The Unsung War
by Project Arashi
Summary: Heroes are more than a person. Heroes are a belief. A belief that, against impossible odds, the world can be saved. Heroes inspire that belief in us. They give us that most precious of all gifts: hope. But not all heroes are remembered.
1. Arms Race

**A/N:** I think I have too many projects. This one's been cooking around for a while. It's a follow-up/continuation/prequel/sequel thing for _Future Perfect_, and falls between chapters two and three of that, and after the conclusion of _Kuro Arashi: The Black Storm_. So that means there will almost certainly be omgwtfbbq spoilers for the future plot developments of Kuro. If you don't want to see that, then don't read. It's on you. All I have to say is that it's a good thing that I've got the major plot for Kuro already laid out and detailed. This'll be sort of a collaborative work between the director/primary author of Kuro, myself Chris Ganale, and Lorenzo Ruiz's actor. Reason being that I'm the authority on all things Kuro and know a hell of a lot of Halo lore, and Lorenzo's actor is our military guy and can fill in the gaps I leave on that, as well as some more obscure Halo lore.

Standard disclaimers apply: _Halo 3_ and all licensed characters, incidents, and organizations are the licensed copyright of Bungie and Microsoft corporation. Chao Lingshen and other mentioned and appearing Negima characters and organizations are the licensed copyright of Ken Akamatsu and Del Ray. All original characters, events, and plot details are the not-exactly-licensed copyright of Project: Arashi.

* * *

**Arms Race**

_November 4, 2552  
__UNSC Sector Command Base "Tama's Nest," Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan  
__0217 hours, local time_

The commander's office was almost pitch black, partially due to the late hour of the meeting, but mostly due to the commander's personal preference to remain literally and figuratively in the shadows. The only illumination in the room was a faint blue glow from a palm-sized holographic panel that the base's dedicated AI manifested on. Right now, though, the panel sat idle on the corner of the commander's desk.

"Sergeant Major, I have a mission for your squad." The commander's voice, female, possessed with a distinct and unmistakable British accent, flowed like red velvet out of the darkness. Illuminated by the the wan light of the holoprojector, the only part of her visible in the darkness, the commander's left arm rested on the arm of her chair, the black uniform of the Office of Naval Intelligence bearing the insignia of a UNMC colonel.

The sergeant had, quite literally, been called directly out of bed for this meeting with her commanding officer. As such, her 'uniform' consisted of her standard-issue PT clothing, disheveled dirty blonde hair, and a half-asleep expression. She smothered a yawn, then straightened up and did the best imitation of standing at attention that she could in her current state of almost-undress. "Yes, ma'am. We're ready to take this mission at any time."

"Excellent. You'll be leaving within the hour." The commander's left hand reached forward, tapping commands into the holoprojector. "You and your squad will take a Pelican into the Hida mountains in Nagano Prefecture." At this, a holoprojection of Japan appeared over the panel, rotating slowly in place. After a moment, the image zoomed in to the prefecture in question, along the northern coast of Japan, and then again to the mountain range. "Your task is to wait with a special energy detection unit you will be provided with, and within the time frame of 0330 hours and 0500, you should pick up a surge of energy. You will proceed to the origin of the energy surge and pick up a high-priority VIP, and return here with the target. Your target will be disoriented and probably incapable of self-defense when you arrive, so it is vital that you protect the target from any hostile Covenant forces that may have also detected the energy signature."

The sergeant nodded. It was a _little_ far-fetched, but with the Covenant breathing down humanity's neck, the fact that they were actually going out of their way to recover this VIP meant that they were probably somehow vital to the war effort. "Understood, ma'am. Our target?"

Once more, perfectly-manicured fingers tapped commands into the holoprojector. The sergeant ignored the curiosity inherent with a commander that took the time for such frivolous and wasteful activities. The rotating image of Japan disappeared, replaced with a bust of a young Chinese woman in her early twenties. Her presumably-black hair hung just below the level of her shoulders, and her face, while not lacking in the classic beauty, showed that she was a veteran of many battlefields.

"Your target answers to the name Chao Lingshen."

--

_Armory, Tama's Nest  
__0226 hours, local time_

The lights of the small, but well-stocked armory lit on in slow sequence, stuttering to life and illuminating two-foot patches of the walls, floors, and weapon lockers in sequence. One stubborn grouping of lights at the far end of the room flickered on and off continuously. Tama's Nest was an old base, constructed just about the time that humanity was colonizing Mars in the early 22nd century.

Five Marines wearing the black, self-sustaining body suits of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers entered the armory. Motion and IFF sensors within the room connected to the base's computer network sorted out within a second of their entry that these ODSTs were here to gear up for a mission. All at once, recessed weapon racks along the walls containing dozens of BR55HB battle rifles, M7 caseless submachine guns, M6G Magnums, and MA5C assault rifles. The double-row of weapon lockers situated to form a central corridor lit up, the pod doors sliding open, to reveal the heavier weapons of the arsenal: SRS99D-S2 sniper rifles, M90A shotguns, and M41 SSR rocket launchers. Several lockers toward the far end of the room were actually turret cases for AIE-486H heavy machine guns, LAU-65D/SGM-151 missile pods, and M7057 defoliant projectors. One still-secured pod in the back even contained a prototype Spartan laser, but that was a weapon that would not be brought to bear on this mission.

With a practiced ease, the five ODSTs split up and pored over the weapon racks. The smaller four each took a battle rifle and four spare clips, and some sort of secondary weapon. The sergeant, identified by the red color patch on her shoulder, took paired Magnums and slipped them into the holsters on the outsides of her thighs. Another man took an MA5C as his backup, and a woman with short, so-light-it-looked-pink red hair with a field radio on her back chose an M7 submachine gun, and the last, also a female, chose a sniper rifle, which would end up being the primary in her case. The last Marine, who looked to be about as big as a fully-armored Spartan supersoldier, claimed the rocket launcher and two reloading tubes. To this formidable arsenal he added a shotgun and a demolitions kit.

At the moment, none of the ODSTs wore their helmets, and the man who had picked up the assault rifle, whose sharp facial features lent him the appearance of a bird of prey, eyed his large comrade's kit. "You know, we're not going out there to blow a hole in a Covenant battleruiser, Kasuga," he said.

Staff Sergeant Johnathan Kasuga, built like an old-school professional wrestler but with a heart of gold, smiled at his squadmate and hefted the bulky rocket launcher. "It never hurts to have an extra insurance policy, Ryuu. And you've even got your choice, State Farm or Allstate." He hefted the launcher again and then the demolitions kit, respectively.

"Like a good neighbor..." First Sergeant Akio 'Ryuu' Sakurazaki rattled off, intentionally off-key. He paused. "Wait, wouldn't the rockets be Allstate? You're in good hands and whatever? I mean, I figured the planted explosives would be more of a good neighbor."

Kasuga shrugged. "You think too hard."

Silence filled the room for a few moments, broken only by the mechanical clicks of bolts cocking back, magazines sliding into place, and safeties switching on. Suddenly, Akio's head came up. "Oh, I just remembered." He reached into a breast pocket of his tactical vest and produced a small, triangular chip with glowing lights at the tips. "Corporal Rivale, I finished this for you."

The sniper, Corporal Cynthia Rivale, a short woman with flame-red hair and eyes the color of emeralds, delicately leaned her chosen sniper rifle against the weapon locker it had come from and approached the squad's technical genius, taking the triangular chip and turning it over in her gloved hand. "What is it?" she asked, her Irish accent readily apparent.

"It's the best portable, reusable active camouflage I can give you without having a dedicated AI to help control it," Akio answered. "It's nowhere near as good as an Elite's active camouflage, but it distorts your outline and makes you partially invisible. Just plug it into your helmet, I incorporated a self-extracting installer package into it."

Cynthia looked at the chip for a moment, then tucked it into a pocket on her belt and patted it once, her assurance that she would use it in the field. "Thanks," she said with a nod, as economical of words as she was of ammunition, and returned to her sniper rifle.

"Sergeant Fei," the woman with the field radio said. "Are we going to have a dedicated Pelican pilot or will I be flying?"

Alysia Fei peered through the optical scope of her battle rifle for a moment, then lowered the weapon. "Dedicated pilot," she answered, then looked around at her squad. "Everyone all set?" Each one of them indicated they were. "Alright. Then let's do it."

She slammed a magazine into her battle rifle, then pulled back the bolt with an echoing clack.


	2. Landfall

**A/N:** Well, now that we have the boring prologue/introduction/teaser out of the way, we can finally get into the meat of the action. And for those of you wondering, I changed one Marine's name and updated the last chapter to reflect said change. Standard disclaimers apply: _Halo 3_ and all associated characters, incidents, and organizations are the licensed copyright of Bungie and Microsoft corporation, _Mahou Sensei Negima_ and all associated characters are the licensed copyright of Ken Akamatsu and Del Ray, and all original characters, events, and plot developments are the not-so-licensed copyright of Project: Arashi.

* * *

**Landfall**

_November 4, 2552  
__Hida Moutain Range, Nagano Prefecture, Japan  
__0348 hours, local time_

In the darkness of the night, the small squad of UNSC Marines had set up camp in a small forest clearing along the side of Mount Yari, flying their Pelican in under the radar and with all external lights extinguished. Upon landing, the squad had immediately thrown over the Pelican a camouflage cover that shared many design characteristics with the semi-powered infiltration armor utilized by the Spartan-III program, masking the transport from overhead view and casual sensor scans. With that complete, the group had established a perimeter, powered down all light-emitting devices, and settled in to wait.

Silence filled the forest, save for the sounds of the night creatures going about their everyday lives. That was a good sign; it meant there were no Covenant in the area. Running dark for ODSTs was a litle different than it was for normal Marines. ODSTs, whose helmets were fully-enclosed and featured an opaque visor, could still operate their motion trackers, comm lines, IFF tags, weapon readouts, and objective/navigational indicators even when running dark, because the light produced by those readouts could not be seen from outside the helmet.

Seated on the ground between two fallen trees, Akio balanced his battle rifle against the bark of the log in front of him, carefully scanning the surrounding landscape for any sign of, well, anything. Head out into the mountains and wait for a VIP to suddenly appear, then get that VIP back to the base. In between there was a lot of dangerous waiting, and with the Covenant crawling all over the planet, there was always the off-chance that the alien bastards would suddenly take interest in this little patch of woods.

A yellow dot blinked into activity on his motion tracker behind him, and Akio glanced back to see the IFF tag of Johnathan approaching him through the darkness. Despite his size, he couldn't make out the large man's black-armored form until he had slipped down in between the two logs beside him. The two soldiers sat in silence for a moment, then Akio's comm indicator lit up with a private frequency request from Johnathan. With the appropriate glance and blink, Akio accepted the request.

"_So, buddy, gonna make a move?"_ the bigger man's voice crackled over Akio's headset.

"_Excuse me?"_ the tech specialist answered.

Johnathan sent an ally locator ping into Akio's helmet systems, causing the IFF tag of the team's sniper, perched in a tree a hundred yards outside the camp, to flash yellow. _"Rivale, dude. I can tell you've got the hots for her."_

"_Don't know what you're talkin' about,"_ Akio snapped back, lifting his battle rifle and scanning the forest before him through the 2x optical scope.

Before the big man could reply, a sound cut through the background noise of the forest that froze all of the Marines in place: the steady thrum of Covenant anti-gravity propulsion engines. All eyes turned to the sky, looking for the telltale glow of whatever Covenant flier it was, as the forest was too thick to permit vehicle passage.

"_Contact,"_ Cynthia's voice called out over their battlenet, whispered even though no sound would escape her helmet. _"Phantom, approaching from Pelican's seven at one hundred meters."_

"_Alert status?"_ Alysia answered back.

"_They don't appear to be searching, just passing through. Looks like a different Phantom design, too. It has open sides and no grav lift."_

There was a slight delay before Alysia answered again. _"Take video and imaging, we'll bring this intel back with us."_

"_Yes, ma'am."_

The next few minutes passed in tense silence as the Phantom approached the clearing, the pale violet glow of the four anti-gravity generators beneath the craft and the twin blue turbine engines revealing its presence. The enemy vehicle serenely passed over the campsite, registering a large red blip on the ODSTs' motion trackers, and then continued on its merry way, not deviating its speed or course once. Just to be safe, the group waited until the vehicle's engine glow and the sound of its anti-gravity generators had vanished, before letting out their collectively-held breaths.

"_Status,"_ Alysia said.

Akio, like the rest of the squad, flashed his acknowledgment light. He turned his head and watched the green flashes of light from the others appear in his heads-up display. Three lights from the Pelican's two pilots and crew chief also lit up.

"_Okay, we're all green. Everyone stay focused. We'll probably be picking up a signal from our VIP any..."_

The sergeant's voice cut off suddenly, prompting Akio and Johnathan to exchange glances. The bigger man gave off a shrug and tapped two fingers against the barrel of his shotgun. Akio turned to look back into the forest.

When Alysia's voice returned, it held that stand-to tone that they were all familiar with. _"Okay, Marines, we've got a hit on our energy tracker and a confirmed location. This should be our VIP, so saddle up and let's move out. We've got half a click of forest to cut through before we get to the target location. Pilots, stay here and get the Pelican ready to go. That Phantom's still in the area so we may have a hot exfil."_

The five ODSTs rose from their concealed positions and crept out of the clearing, Alysia and her energy detector taking point, Johnathan following close behind with his shotgun, and the rest of the squad following in a loose formation, with Cynthia keeping watch over the rear with her sniper rifle. The group moved in near silence through the dense forest, any noise they made covered by the natural noise of the wind through the trees as their black-and-white low-light vision filters allowed them to pick their way through the trees without running into anything.

Halfway to the objective, the voice of one of the Pelican pilots crackled into the squad's headsets. _"Sergeant Fei, contact. The Phantom's back, sensor profile suggests it's deploying troops in the target area."_

"_Roger that,"_ Alysia commed back, slipping the energy detector into a pouch on her armor and unshouldering her battle rifle. _"Squad, spread out and encircle the target area. Maintain stealth parameters and prepare to set up a withering crossfire."_

Green acknowledgment lights flashed in her HUD, and she crept forward slowly, lowering herself into a crouch as she crossed the last hundred meters to the target area. Already, she could hear her enemies, the yapping of the cannon fodder grunts, and the growling and barking of the brutes leading them.

"_Eyes on,"_ Cynthia whispered. _"Six grunts, three brutes. No elites, repeat, zero split-lips. Brutes are wearing some kind of new armor; two in blue armor, one in a more ornate green armor. Greenie has a brute shot, other two are wielding some unknown small sidearm, possibly their version of an SMG."_

Stopping behind a rotted tree stump, Alysia looked toward the location of Cynthia's comm signal. She was ahead of the group and to her left, fifty meters away, height of her signal indicating she'd taken position in a tree. As expected of the scout sniper. _"Thanks for the sitrep, Corporal. Team, flash status light when in position."_

Akio flashed his status light from a position opposite Cynthia's, positioned on a ridge overlooking the forest glade that the enemy occupied. She could see Johnathan's IFF tag still moving, passing Akio, heading for a position opposite her own, probably prepared to rain high-explosive anti-tank death on the Covenant forces. _"Wonder why there aren't any elites..."_ Johnathan muttered.

"_Elites are better at commanding the Covenant ships and larger ground forces,"_ the team's field radio operator and backup pilot, a young woman named Cheryl Sasaki, answered as she flashed her status light fifteen meters to Alysia's left. _"The Covenant may have restructured their armed forces to give brutes more action in ground combat under the command of higher-ranking elites."_

"_Ice the chatter,"_ Alysia ordered. _"Everyone's in position. Corporal, light 'em up."_

"_Going loud,"_ Cynthia answered mechanically.

A thunderbolt split the darkness and silence as a 14.5mm fin-stabilized, armor-piercing discarding-sabot round from Cynthia's sniper rifle slammed into the temple of the green-armored brute's helmet, blowing the helmet clean off and staggering the simian alien. Sparks cascaded across the remainder of its armor as the alien roared in pain and anger. The grunts panicked and began scattering across the glade as the two blue-armored aliens turned toward the direction of the shot and fired their hand weapons. Glowing orange projectiles lanced out of their rifles, flying into the trees, but Cynthia's IFF tag didn't flash orange to indicate that she was taking fire.

"_That armor has some kind of shielding on it,"_ the sniper reported sourly. _"The hand weapons are firing heated metal projectiles, spikes, it looks like."_

"_Are you hit?"_ Alysia asked.

"_Negative, I'm clear. At this range their accuracy is pot."_

"Stop your yelping!" the green-armored brute roared to the grunts. "Regroup and find that sniper! Stay alert, there may be more of them!"

"_Sergeant, orders?"_ Johnathan asked.

"_Squad, take them."_

The night exploded in fire as three battle rifles, a sniper rifle, and a rocket launcher unleashed their fury on the Covenant troops.

--

She had awakened to darkness, cold, and sounds that had haunted her dreams for years. All around her, she could hear the yipping of Unggoy troops and the hissing of their methane tanks as they pushed through the forest growth, and guttural growls and snapping that did not sound like anything she knew, but knew regardless that they were trouble. The motion tracker of her combat suit was alive with activity, the entire back and sides of her armor buzzing in response to the movement of enemy troops all around her.

She opened her eyes to find herself staring at soft, moist soil and foliage. Turning her head just slightly, she watched an Unggoy stop just one meter away from her, its squat form turning this way and that as it sniffed the air tentatively, the green emitter of its plasma pistol wavering as it searched out her scent.

As she watched, a beast in blue armor walked up to the Unggoy. This monstrous alien towered almost nine feet tall, its ape-like appearance covered by the plates of blue armor which shimmered with energy shielding as they came in contact with the foliage. "What did you find?" the beast growled out in English, a language commonly known to most of the Covenant species.

"Human," the Unggoy chittered back, still swinging to and fro as it tried to locate her.

Immediately, the armored beast reached down to its right leg and palmed a weapon with two glowing blue ports and sharp-edged, curving blades along the underside of the weapon. It looked like a pistol in the monster's hand, but she knew that it was about the equivalent size of the UNSC's MA5C assault rifle.

"Pack Brother, the Unggoy can smell humans nearby," the beast said to another creature outside her viewing range.

"Search this area," a similar, yet deeper voice replied. "These humans must be hiding the source of the energy spike we detected."

Energy spike? She thought of her battle armor, of the device installed in the center of her back, between her shoulder blades. It generated an energy spike whenever it was used, but not a type of energy the Covenant would be familiar with. Regardless, they _would_ still detect the spike, and she swore. If the enemy were Unggoy and Sangheili, she was confident that she could fight them off. But these new aliens, at least two of them, were an unknown to her, and probably equally or more dangerous.

Before she could begin formulating a plan for her escape, the ever-familiar crack of an SRS-99D S2 sniper rifle broke the night, along with the brilliant flash of light from the source of the shot. Her excellent eyesight, sharpened from four years of continual warfare and her efforts to save the world, allowed her to pick out a black-armored, humanoid form in the tree from which the shot originated, in the brief moment of illumination provided by the shot.

_ODST,_ she thought. _Allies!_

The shot hit an alien out of her vision, the leader of the group, judging from the roar of anger and the fact that the sniper's target hadn't been killed by that shot. The Unggoy immediately went into their trademark panic, and the blue-armored alien turned toward the sniper and fired its weapon, sending a hail of glowing orange projectiles at the tree.

"Stop your yelping! Regroup and find that sniper! Stay alert, there may be more of them!"

Almost in answer to the alien's orders, five distinct points of fire burst from around the glade. A heavy thump in her chest and a rush of air told her that someone had a rocket launcher, and a brilliant explosion from behind her pitched three Unggoy through the air, methane streaming from their tanks. A barrage of three-round bursts pelted the alien before her, causing its shielded armor to spark. Within another second, the armor emitted a _whump_ sound and the alien staggered back, parts of its armor clattering off as sparks and energy cascaded across the remainder. Another burst of fire to its head sent the alien slumping to the ground, its spike rifle clattering to the ground near her.

That was her chance! With the ODSTs in the forest distracting the Covenant, she'd have freedom to move. She lunged forward, her fingers closing around one of the looped handles of the alien's rifle. She dragged it to her and looked it over, then adjusted her hand to hold it by the central handle in between the two loops. Another rocket hit the ground ahead of her, sending a second blue-armored alien flying, its arms pinwheeling comically as its death spasm triggered the emptying of its rifle.

Bringing herself into a crouch, she looked around to take stock of the situation, then centered her sights on an alien in green armor wielding a massive weapon with a wicked-looking blade attached to it, raised the stolen spike rifle, and held down the trigger.

--

As Alysia ducked back behind the cover of the rotted stump and checked the ammunition counter for her rifle, grenades from the brute shot impacting the wood behind her, Cynthia's voice called out suddenly, _"New contact, new contact!"_ There was a brief pause and another crack of her rifle, and one of the red dots on Alysia's motion tracker disappeared. _"We've got a human in the clearing. He got his hands on one of the brute's weapons and is pissing off the one in green armor."_

"That's probably our contact," Alysia answered. "Sasaki, Sakurazaki, Rivale, covering fire. Kasuga, get in there and get that brute off her!"

"_On the way, Sarge!"_ Johnathan answered as he dove into the glade, shotgun leading the way.

Akio and Cheryl rose up, their battle rifles thumbed to fully automatic fire, and hosed down the remaining grunts in the glade, then shifted their fire over the brute's head to distract it from their squadmate and objective. Cynthia was in the process of reloading her rifle.

Johnathan hit the glade floor with a heavy thump, leveling his shotgun on the brute and squeezing off a round as he advanced. At that range, the damage from the blast was negligible, but it served his purpose: The green-armored alien turned away from the human on the ground and roared at him, bringing its brute shot to bear. Immediately, Johnathan dove to the right and a grenade sailed past him, exploding against the ridge wall. He expected more grenades, but a roar of anger from the brute told him that it had emptied its magazine, and instead of taking the time to reload, the alien charged him, the massive blade gleaming menacingly in the moonlight.

He stood up quickly, bringing his shotgun around for a more lethal blast at this close range, but the beast was faster, swinging its bladed grenade launcher. Johnathan leaped back at the last moment, the blade that would have split him from groin to chin instead cleaving his shotgun in half. Dropping the destroyed weapon, he rolled to his left as the brute freed its right arm to backhand him, the creature's meaty arm passing inches over his back.

The rattling sound of the lesser brutes' spike rifles rang out as the squad's objective emptied out the rifle's last half-dozen spikes. The orange projectiles stuck deep into the brute's side, but only seemed to anger it further as the alien wheeled on her. It watched as she looked down at the bladed rifle in her hand, seemingly contemplating the merits of trying to attack the brute in melee with the weapon's blades. At this, the brute chuckled menacingly and advanced on her.

Before it could reach her, Johnathan leapt onto the brute's back, his arms moving around its neck in an attempt to get it in a choke-hold. Immediately, the brute roared and rocked back and forth, preventing the burly ODST from getting a solid grip. Its own arms came up, seizing the man by the shoulders and hurling him off its back. Johnathan slammed hard into the ridge wall and fell into the foliage, unmoving. The brute approached the downed Marine, methodically reloading its weapon, but before it could finish or fire on the man, another sniper round from Cynthia took it in the side of the head. Without its shielded armor to protect it, the brute collapsed like a sack of beans.

Silence descended on the glade for a few moments, and then the rest of the squad appeared out of the dark like spirits from beyond. Akio and Cheryl moved to check Johnathan, Cynthia kept watch on the surrounding forest with battle rifle at the ready, and Alysia stepped up to the woman who was still holding the spike rifle and looked her over. Her appearance matched that of the hologram the commander had showed her, and the woman was at least as tall as she was. She wore a black-and-white suit that appeared to be armored, the front of which bore the phrase "Chao Bao Zi" in both English and kanji.

Alysia set her battle rifle on the ground and reached up, unsealing her helmet and removing it, then tucking it underneath her right arm. She noticed their target's eyes widen considerably as she revealed her face. "Chao Lingshen?" she asked.

The woman nodded, recoiling slightly.

"Ma'am, Sergeant Major Alysia Fei, 1st UNSC Marine Corps Special Forces Operations Division Bravo-Six," she introduced herself. "We've been tasked to locate you and bring you back to our base."

At just that moment, the Pelican that Cheryl had called in appeared over the glade, its thrust-vectoring jets blowing the tops of the trees to the sides and scattering loose foliage in all directions. Chao looked up as the transport descended down through the trees, turning in midair to present its open troop bay to them. The crew chief stood ready in the bay with a medical litter to carry Johnathan on board with.

Chao felt a cold sensation rush through her body, and muttered quietly, "By the gods, I really am back..."


	3. Arrival

**A/N:** This is the part where I imagine I'm going to lose a lot of readers. If you're here looking for a pure, nothing-but-Halo experience, then you should leave now. Those of you who have read _Future Perfect_ or are otherwise familiar with the way things operate in the Kuroverse, then you can imagine what's coming. Either way, I have no regrets for what I'm doing within the frame of the Halo universe and I'll state here, now, that I have long-term plans for 95 of the Haloverse that you're familiar with remaining intact. Creative license and all. Again, standard disclaimers apply: _Halo 3_ and all associated names, locations, and events are copyright Bungie Studios. _Mahou Sensei Negima_ and all affiliated names, locations, and events are copyright Ken Akamatsu and Del Ray. All original characters, concepts, and events are the intellectual property of Project: Arashi.

* * *

**Arrival**

_November 4, 2552  
__Pelican Dropship Hotel-192, En Route to UNSC Sector Command "Tama's Nest"  
__0403 hours, local time_

Overall silence filled the troop bay of the Pelican as the transport cut swiftly through the night sky toward the UNSC base. The five members of Bravo-Six sat scattered in different seats. Cynthia sat in the front left seat, stripping down and cleaning her sniper rifle. Akio sat in the third seat on the right side, his helmeted head leaned back against the bay wall, catching a few moments of shut-eye. Cheryl sat across from him, keeping watch over Johnathan, who was strapped down to the medical litter on the floor of the bay. He'd regained consciousness shortly after the Pelican had lifted off, and insisted that he was fine, but without a squad medic and therefore unable to know if the man had any more serious injuries, Alysia had been unrelenting in keeping him strapped to that litter. Alysia herself sat in the very last seat on the left side, directly across from Chao, their objective. The young Chinese woman seemed to be having a very hard time looking the sergeant in the eye.

"So, Sergeant...Fei..." Chao said suddenly, staring at the metal deck. "What's happened recently? I've been..." There was a hesitation, and Chao considered how she'd describe her travels back into the past, indirectly of course. "...indisposed ever since the Covenant attacked and destroyed the _Cairo_ battle cluster."

Alysia shook her head. "Not exactly," she answered. "They only managed to destroy the _Malta_ and _Athens_. Master Chief was aboard the _Cairo_, and managed to disarm the bomb the Covenant had brought aboard, and then used it to destroy one of their _CCS_-class battlecruisers."

The sergeant heard a creaking sound, and looked around the troop bay, confused as to its source, and then her eyes fell on Chao, the young woman clenching her leather-gloved hands into tight fists, the sound produced by the material of her gloves. For the briefest instant, Alysia thought she saw red light swirling around the other woman's hands, but dismissed it as the standard night lighting of the troop bay's interior.

"Between the other Super-MAC clusters in the area and our own fleet, we destroyed most of the Covenant fleet, but several carriers got through the blockade and landed on Earth, in New Mombasa. It was hard, fierce fighting, but eventually we repelled them, and the Prophet of Regret made a slipspace jump inside the city, destroying over half of it and bringing the orbital elevator crashing down over the whole continent. One of our ships managed to follow the Prophet and found a new Halo. The Covenant almost lit it, but our forces on the ground managed to stop them in time.

"As that was going on, the Prophet of Truth showed up with another, much larger fleet. They atomized the lunar garrison and smashed our home fleet. They started off with a bombing campaign, casualties ran up into the millions. Then they deployed their forces. Russia, Denmark, Ohio, Buenos Aires, Kyoto and Mahora. The Prophet went to ground near the ruins of New Mombasa, and most of his fleet's orbiting near that strange ship they brought with them."

Alysia heaved a heavy sigh, cupping her hands together under her chin. "Two weeks," she said solemnly. "It's been two weeks since the Covenant first found Earth, and already they control over half of it. The UNSC chain of command is smashed up. Lord Hood still technically oversees the entire armada, but effectively? He's got only about two dozen fast cruisers and the Africa Corps that he has direct control of. We're doing all we can to fight them. Hell, it's become almost policy to accept any civilian who has a weapon into the ranks..." Her monologue slowed, and she raised the polarized faceplate of her helmet to angrily wipe away tears with her hand. "We're losing Earth. Everyone can feel it. Master Chief came back on the Prophet's ship and he's been terrorizing the Covenant over in Africa, but we're still fighting a losing battle."

Chao lowered her head and clenched her teeth as the sergeant's tale took a depressing turn. She could feel the hot sting of tears in her own eyes, and she fought with all of her strength to hold them in. _Nothing has changed,_ she thought bitterly. _Even with everything I've done, all the equipment I gave to the world back in the 21__st__ century, the wars that I fought and bled through, the effort I gave alongside _them_ in saving the world, it's all no different. We're still being ground to dust by the Covenant, and there's nothing that I can do._ She raised her head slowly, looking at the sergeant, her face now revealed from behind the black faceplate, that same face that had belonged to her distant ancestor and close friend from five hundred years earlier. _And this, now, like then, I'll be forced to watch more Marines die, more who carry on the family lineage of Ala Alba._ She looked toward the other ODSTs, their helmets covering their faces, but she could see the names stenciled in white on the helmets. Sasaki, Kasuga, Sakurazaki. _Why must I continue to suffer through this? To watch those who are important to me die._

Through the open hatchway into the cockpit, the squad heard a female voice state in monotone, _"Pelican dropship Hotel-192, your IFF has been confirmed. Access granted for landing approach."_

"Affirmative, Tama's Nest," the pilot answered, hands moving in a slow, steady fashion across the control board. "Beginning our approach."

Ahead of their Pelican, the mountainous foothills of Mt. Fuji rose out of the darkness, solid rock walls that contained a rich history much of the world knew nothing about. Chao almost wished the rear bay was open, so that she could look down upon the tract of land that once housed an unassuming hot springs town that produced a band of heroes that once saved the world from destruction.

In the hills ahead, there was a slight shift, a cleft in the rocks that spread outward and grew, a cleverly-concealed secret entrance to a hangar bay, built right into the rocks. Red landing lights flashed in a box around the edges of the entrance, directing the Pelican between the unforgiving rocks. With a steady hand that belied many trips in and out of the narrow aperture, the pilot of the Pelican guided the ungainly craft into the hangar with nay a whisper. Akio, Cheryl, and Johnathan exchanged nods, all ready to get back to the bunks they'd left behind. Alysia looked ready to report her mission complete, and Cynthia looked as though she'd find nothing more enjoyable than camping atop the mountain and setting some new maximum range sniping records.

"Sergeant, I think we have some kind of trouble," the pilot called back into the troop bay.

Alysia was on her feet in an instant, stepping over Johnathan's litter and pulling herself through the hatchway. She leaned toward the forward viewport, putting a hand on the back of the pilot's seat, and regarded the hangar. Equipment boxes that were normally stacked neatly out of the way of the flight deck were strewn about haphazardly, contents spilled across the floor, burn marks and bullet holes pockmarking many of them. The normal lighting of the bay was out, red emergency lights burned at set intervals across the room, many out of commission, some flickering.

"Dammit," Alysia whispered, looking across the ruined hangar. "Turn this bird around and set down. Keep the engines hot in case we need to get a quick getaway."

"Aye, ma'am," the pilot answered, immediately setting the vehicle into a stationary rotation.

As he did so, Alysia made her way back to the troop bay, pressing one hand against the wall in order to steady herself against the horizontal motion. "Listen up," she said to her squad. "We all know our commander's a stickler for tidiness, and the fact that the hangar's turned into a disaster zone since we've been gone indicates that something has happened. We'll move out and look for the commander, then secure the rest of the base. No heroics. If we run into more than we can handle, we'll bug out in the Pelican and head for the nearest friendly base."

She made her way back to the rear of the bay as she spoke, retrieving her battle rifle as the Pelican settled to the deck with a gentle thud and a rumble of the engines. Another tremor coursed through the ship's frame as the rear hatch began to drop. "Stand to, Marines," she ordered, raising her battle rifle toward the hatch.

The others had already mobilized, Johnathan rolling up off the litter and retrieving his rocket launcher, aimed toward the ramp. Akio, Cheryl, and Cynthia all waited at the ready, weapons also aimed. Alysia glanced toward Chao, who had no weapons other than the empty spike rifle. Turning toward her, she offered the other woman her battle rifle, "Ma'am, weapon for you."

Shaking her head, Chao reached behind her back with her right hand and drew out a well-used M6D Magnum, the bigger, badder brother to Alysia's own paired M6G pistols. Nodding, Alysia focused her attention forward. With an echoing crunch of metal against metal, the Pelican's ramp dropped to the hangar floor. Silence and darkness waited beyond.

Battle rifle leading the way, Alysia crept out onto the hangar floor, sweeping before her with the weapon. When nothing moved, she freed her left hand and waved the others out. "Move it out, Marines," she said. "Stay tight and focused. Miss Lingshen, in the center, if you would."

Chao gave her a sour look at that order, a look that seemed to carry some other emotion concealed beneath it, but did move into the center of the ODST formation with her pistol held loosely, but ready, in her right hand. Amongst the armored and helmeted forms of the ODSTs, Chao looked almost child-sized.

One doorway led out of the hangar, and it was through this door that the squad passed, moving slowly and thoroughly. As they entered the base proper, static began to filter in over their helmet headsets, adding an uneasy background noise to the already-tense situation. The emergency lights in this area of the base were nonfunctional, plunging the ODSTs and Chao into pitch blackness only ten meters in.

Almost on instinct, Alysia began to order her team to go to low-light vision, and then remembered that Chao was not wearing ODST gear, and thus did not have a helmet with low-light vision available. "Tac lights," she ordered instead. Five beams of white light split the darkness, panning over the walls and ceilings, providing enough illumination to make out the corridor ahead of them.

Almost as soon as their lights came on, static filtered over their helmet headsets and an eerie, childlike voice whispered into their ears, _"You swore an oath to uphold and defend Earth and her colonies against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."_

"_Contact,"_ Cynthia called at the tail of that strange transmission. _"Caught a shadow moving across the limit of our tac lights, ahead."_

"Move up slowly and investigate."

Muted thumps of their boots hitting the metal grates followed the team as they advanced, two lights trained ahead to watch for any new movement, one sweeping just before them to show any debris or other impediments on their path, and two watching behind in the event of a rear attack. The darkness closed in around the team like a physical thing, draping heavily over them with a sense of foreboding and impending doom.

At the end of the corridor, a T-intersection branched to the left and right, left leading to the barracks, mess hall, and hangar control room, right leading toward the command center, briefing room, and armory. The squad stacked up on both ends of the hall, three on the left, three on the right. Alysia, first in place on the left side of the hall, switched off her tac light, activated her low-light vision, then leaned out and peered down into the gloom. Even with her low-light vision, she could see no farther than fifty feet down the hall, right where the intersection to the barracks was located. Nothing moved on her side. "Clear," she reported to her squad, bracing herself against the wall once more.

Before she could switch her low-light vision off and return to using the tac light, her HUD flickered, the real-time transmission of images from outside her helmet slowing to a crawl. _"The world you are about to enter is a world where the weak will not survive."_ Her HUD flickered again at the end of that message, her helmet systems resetting themselves with a wash of static across her vision.

Belatedly, she realized that her squad had been trying to contact her. _"-alright, Sergeant?"_ Akio asked over the comm, gripping his battle rifle.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," she answered, shaking her head to clear the remaining fuzziness. "Helmet malfunction."

"_This shit is seriously fucked up,"_ Johnathan muttered, rocket launcher leaning against the wall as he stood between Cynthia and Chao. _"Come back to the base in ruins and our gear starts fucking up now? Something's going on around here."_

"_Clear this way,"_ Cynthia reported calmly, staring down the corridor leading toward the command rooms.

"Right," Alysia said, raising her left hand and gesturing with two fingers down the command hallway. "We check the command center, find either the commander or some sign of what went down here. Then we're gone. Sakurazaki, take point."

"_Yes, ma'am,"_ Akio said, stepping off the wall and advancing down the command hallway. He flicked on the underbarrel light of his MA5C and raised the weapon up, sweeping it slowly from side to side as he crept down the hall. With Johnathan's shotgun destroyed by the brute back in the mountains, the assault rifle was the most viable close-range weapon they had available to them.

"_Anybody else get the feeling we're being watched?"_ Johnathan called up from the rear of the group, training his rocket launcher on the path behind them.

"_Every minute of every day, Kasuga,"_ Cheryl answered from behind Akio. _"You'd think in a squad with more girls than guys, that wouldn't be such an issue. Stay focused."_

Akio smirked and glanced back behind him for a moment. _"Yeah, man, this coming from the guy who's eyeballed every good-looking chick that's come through here?"_

"Sakurazaki, banter all you want, but keep your eyes forward," Alysia admonished.

"_Yes, ma'am, sorry ma'am,"_ he answered as he turned back around. At the very edge of the beam of light produced by his MA5C, a dark shadow crossed the hallway from right to left, causing the ODST to start and jump back, nearly knocking Cheryl over in the process. _"Shit!"_

"_What the fuck, Sakurazaki!?"_ Cheryl demanded.

"Calm down, the both of you," Alysia ordered. "Sakurazaki, what happened?"

"_Saw something cut across the extreme edge of my light, ma'am. Small and fast. No idea what it was."_

"Did you see where it went?"

Akio panned his light across the side of the hall the shadow had disappeared on, and saw an open doorway looming as he approached. _"Went into this door,"_ he said. _"This is the commander's office, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah, it is."_

"Sakurazaki, hold back. Rivale, time to test out your new active camo. Get in there and scout out."

"_Yes, ma'am."_

A faint static fuzz echoed in the silence of the hallway, and then Akio felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as a faint nothingness passed by him. The fact that so much weird shit was going down at their base was bad enough, having Cynthia brush him with her camouflage active didn't help matters any. The active camouflage he had given her was nowhere near as sophisticated as a Covenant unit; in normal lighting conditions she would appear to be a semi-transparent ghost-like figure, but in the darkness of the base, she was almost perfectly invisible.

Her battle rifle leading, Cynthia advanced into the commander's office. Like the rest of the base, pitch blackness pervaded the room, broken only by the occasional flicker of the holopanel on the commander's desk. Other than that, nothing else moved as she swept the barrel of her weapon from side to side, scanning the room with the low-light vision mode of her helmet. As her vision tracked to the far right corner of the room, where another door led to the commander's personal quarters, a line of static made its way down her HUD, and her low-light vision went out, plunging her into the darkness outside her helmet.

"Dammit," she swore.

"_What is it, Corporal?"_ Alysia asked.

"Low-light vision on my helmet has failed. Wait one, I'm attempting to reboot-"

A clacking sound, like two pieces of hollow wood smacking together, cut her off in midsentence and she snapped the barrel of her rifle toward its source, the open doorway into the commander's quarters. She took two steps to the side and flattened herself against the wall, muscles tensed, weapon trained on the door.

"_Corporal?"_

"Something's in here."

The sound repeated itself, seeming to be in motion. As the holopanel's pale blue glow lit up half of the desk, the commander's chair suddenly spun toward her quarters, and that clacking sound came again. The panel flickered off. As she waited in silence, Cynthia attempted to bring her low-light vision back online, but the helmet system stubbornly refused her efforts. She heard the sound again, coming as a jumbled repetition of the clacking noise. With her low-light vision offline, and the holopanel not seeming to want to come on again, she would have no way of knowing if she was about to be attacked without activating her helmet lamp.

"_Corporal, give me a status report,"_ Alysia said, her voice sounding urgent.

"Low-light vision in my helmet's failed," Cynthia whispered. "There's something moving around in here, but I can't see it unless I bring on my tac light."

There was a pause, then her sergeant's voice came back, _"Do it, Corporal."_

"Yes, ma'am." She rose her left hand up toward her helmet, and was annoyed to find it shaking. Frowning, she clenched her hand tightly until it stopped shaking, then opened it, raised it to her helmet, and depressed the recessed button to activate her tac light.

The white beam flashed on, illuminating the top of the commander's desk, and the miniature figure now leaping toward her with a clatter of hollow wood, its doll-like face a painted mask of gleeful menace, wielding a pair of punching daggers with spiked knuckle protectors like butcher knives. Cynthia swore and brought up her battle rifle; the damn thing was almost all the way across the room to her. She fired a burst, but as the bullets reached where the thing was, it disappeared in a flash of dust, leaving the bullets to travel on unabated and penetrate the far wall.

As her body overbalanced from her instinctive movement away from the leaping creature and she fell to the ground, her HUD flickered, and a voice spoke into her mind, _"There will be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead."_ Afterwards, her HUD reset itself, the trademark gridline tracing its way across her field of vision.

Within an instant, the rest of the squad had burst into the room, tac lights on and sweeping the room as weapon barrels tracked back and forth. _"What the hell just happened?"_ Alysia demanded.

Thankful that she was wearing a helmet to hide her blush from being flustered and caught in it, Cynthia stood up and dusted the arms of her bodysuit. "Something came flying at me from the desk when I turned on my light," she explained, "but when I shot it, it just vanished into nothingness."

"_You destroyed it?"_

The sniper shook her head. "No, my shots went right through it." She pointed to the three bullet holes pockmarking the far wall. "Not one hit it."

"_Moving shadows, things that aren't really there jumping at us, the base in ruins..."_ Cheryl murmured. _"There's something very, very bad happening here."_

"_Agreed,"_ Alysia said. _"Sasaki, check the commander's room. Everyone else, stay loose. Soon as she gets back, we're out of here."_

Stepping past the commander's desk, she slung her battle rifle into the magnetic cradle on the back of her armor, then reached down to her right hip and drew her M7 submachine gun from its holster, switching her helmet mode to low-light vision as she stepped into the room. It was standard officer's fare, sparsely furnished. As she scanned the room, her eyes fell on a large bloodstain on the near left corner, just past another desk. Heart hammering in her chest, Cheryl brought the stock of the submachine gun to her shoulder and advanced forward, moving past the desk. The blood pooled on the floor, forming a large puddle on the metal floor, but there was no body near it.

She turned in a slow circle, eyes searching for whatever could have been the source of the blood pool. Across the room, she spotted a door, probably leading to a closet. She crossed the room swiftly, her heartbeat sounding louder than her boots on the floor. As she neared the door, her HUD dimmed, flickering as though her suit had a faulty power connection. _"The world you know will no longer be. You are taking your first step into a larger world."_

Cheryl stopped with her hand faintly touching the doorknob. "Sergeant? Corporal? Are either of you transmitting?"

"_No,"_ Alysia answered, accompanied by a red acknowledgment light from Cynthia. _"Why? Did you get a transmission?"_

"Yes, ma'am. Female voice, sounded like a child, saying that the world I know will no longer be, that I'm taking my first step into a larger world."

The comm lines were silent for a moment, then Alysia said, _"I heard a voice too, a while back. I assumed it was transmission garbage. The voice I heard said the weak will not survive in the world we, or perhaps I, are about to enter."_

"_I got one, too, Sergeant,"_ Cynthia said. _"Right after that thing attacked me, saying that there would be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead."_

"_It seems to all be connected,"_ Alysia said. _"And all coinciding with strange occurrences. Be careful, Sasaki, something may be about to happen."_

"Yes, ma'am," Cheryl said. "I found a large bloodstain in here on the floor and wall, but no body. I'm about to open the room's closet to see if anything's in there."

"_Okay, stay alert."_

Slowly, Cheryl gripped the doorknob and twisted it, then pulled the door open and looked inside. Adrenaline surged through her body and she leapt back, snapping up her submachine gun, but managing not to fire at what was obviously a dead body crammed into the closet. She took several deep, ragged breaths to calm down, then turned away to report. "All clear, ma'am. Nothing in the closet but a-"

When she looked back, the corpse had disappeared.

"_But a what? What's in the closet?"_

"Uh... What the... Ma'am, there was a body in this closet a minute ago, and now it's gone."

"_It didn't leave the closet, did it?"_ Johnathan asked.

"_Can it, Kasuga,"_ Alysia snapped.

"_No, wait, ma'am, he may have a point,"_ Akio said. _"That Flood thing that Master Chief found on the two ringworlds. Something like that may have come back with the Covenant and gotten into our base."_

Silence as Alysia processed this, then she said, _"Sasaki, what did the body look like? Did it look like any of the data recordings of Flood combat forms?"_

"No, ma'am, just a dead body. I didn't get too great a look at it, but it wasn't green and rotted, or growing extra limbs."

"_Okay, rejoin the squad. We're getting the hell out of here and moving to another base. This is too damned much."_

Shutting the closet door, in case the body returned and decided to wake up, Cheryl moved back into the office with the rest of the squad, switching her low-light vision off and turning her tac light back on. Alysia took a quick headcount, then activated the external audio feed on her helmet. "Okay, here's the plan. The armory's right across the hall. We dip in there to replenish our supplies, then we hightail it to the hangar, get on the bird, and get the hell out of here. Move out. Kasuga, you're up front. Time to let whatever's playing mind games with us know that we are _not_ amused."

Johnathan smiled and thumbed the control to rotate the dual barrels of the rocket launcher. "I hear that, ma'am. Taking point."

He turned and moved out into the hallway, his helmet light sweeping back and forth across the hallway as he headed down the few meters to the doorway on the left marked Armory. Moving past the door, he stacked up on the far side, leaving room for somebody to stack up closer to the door, and kept his launcher pointed down the hallway. Akio stacked up beside him, assault rifle aimed at the closed door. The rest of the squad stacked up on the opposite side of the door, Alysia closest to it.

She nodded to Akio, then reached up and pressed the emergency manual release located beneath the electronic door lock. With a heavy thump and the groaning of hydraulic lifts, the door swung inward on right-side hinges. Akio entered first, sweeping his weapon down the length of the room. Alysia followed in directly behind him, tracking the opposite side of the room.

"Clear," Akio reported.

"Clear," Alysia agreed. "Move in and resupply."

The squad entered the armory, not surprised to find it in a state of disarray matching the rest of the base. Wordlessly, they refilled whatever ammunition they had spent in the battle with the brute patrol while Johnathan picked up a replacement shotgun, Chao outfitted herself with an MA5C assault rifle, and Akio moved to the far end of the room, where the heavier weapons were stored. It became obvious what he was going after a moment later when he grunted and hefted an M7057/DP defoliant projector.

"Jesus Christ, Akio, a flamethrower?" Johnathan asked.

The man shrugged. "Hey, if it's zombies or the Flood or anything even remotely like that, fire works best."

Johnathan shook his head. "You're staying in front of me," he said, then turned aside and loaded shells into the shotgun, muttering to himself, "It's always the asshole with the flamethrower..."

If the squad techie heard the remark or was bothered by it, he didn't show it as he busied himself by rigging a weight-distributing sling to assist him in carrying the bulky, heavy weapon. With that completed, he adjusted several buttons and controls, then a small flame flickered to life at the front of the weapon's nozzle.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Alysia said. "Johnathan, point man."

Nodding, the huge ODST led the way out of the armory and back toward the hangar, more than willing to let his new shotgun do the talking to anything or anyone of an unfriendly nature they met on their trek back to the hangar. As the moved through the hall, the sensation of watchful menace grew almost overwhelming.

Johnathan growled in his throat. "At this point, I kinda wish something would pop out at us. Then I'd have something to take all this shit out on."

"You know, that's one of things you're not supposed to say in these kinds of situations," Akio said, walking directly beside the bigger man. "Like you're never supposed to say the 'E' word on a mission, or say that you've got a bad feeling. Cos bad shit happens almost immediately afterwards."

As they turned the corner to head back toward the hangar, they both stopped in their tracks. Down five meters, spreading from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, a solid wall of ice blocked off the corridor, glowing a faint silver from their tac lights. The man with the flamethrower turned a sour look to his comrade. "See? You just had to say something. Now it starts getting even weirder."

The rest of the squad rounded the corner, and also stopped at the sight of the ice wall. "Uhh, did we spring a sudden leak?" Cheryl asked.

Chao moved up past the two point men and stopped at the ice wall, placing her gloved left hand on it, brow furrowing in concentration. Things were starting to make a scary sort of sense, now...

"Out of the way, ma'am," Akio said, raising the flamethrower. "I'll handle this."

She doubted that the defoliant projector would have any affect on the ice wall, but she nodded anyway and stepped back behind him, followed by Johnathan. Akio took another step forward, and with a sudden rush of heat and a whoosh of air, a gout of flame roared out of the nozzle, arcing across and caressing the wall of ice as he swept the projector back and forth. He let up on the trigger after a few seconds, and to the surprise of the entire squad, except Chao, not one centimeter of the ice had melted.

"What the fuck..."

"That's some serious ice," Johnathan said, pulling the rocket launcher from his back and replacing it with the shotgun. "Get clear, everyone. My turn."

It would be pointless to argue, Chao realized, and opted to join the rest of the squad in moving back around the corner. After a moment's delay, there was a bright flash of fire and smoke, the heavy whump of the rocket launching, and an explosion that rocked the corridor.

"Kasuga, any luck?" Alysia called out.

"Uhh, I think I blew a few chunks off of it..." came the subdued reply.

"Jesus, that can't be natural ice," Cheryl said. "No way it can stand up to rockets _and_ a flamethrower."

"We'll just have to find another way," Alysia said. "We can head up to the hangar control room and get down through the windows. Let's go."

The squad set off again down the left corridor, Akio and Johnathan again leading the way. A single overhead light still functioned, albeit intermittently, leaving a gloomy, dimly-lit environment that was somehow all the more spooky for the light being present. A hundred feet of hallway passed without incident, and the squad stacked up around the doorway leading into the hangar control room. Planting himself in front of the doorway, shotgun aimed at it, Johnathan reached over and triggered the manual release.

With a heavy groan, the door slid open on its tracks and slammed against the inside wall with a resounding clang. The huge man stepped into the adjoining room, which was little more than a catwalk that connected the suspended hangar control room to the main wall of the base. The catwalk was built into the mountainous rock itself, allowing a spectacular view high above and below of the crystal-like geological formations within the mountain, backlit by a liquid blue-green glow from deep within the mountain. The catwalk led into the hangar control room by way of two doors, beyond which the faint illumination of the active hangar controls was visible.

As the squad moved across the catwalk into the hangar, Cheryl paused, staring down through the grating at the dim glow deep in the mountains below them. "We never did get to figure out what that light is coming from," she said, a note of dejection in her voice.

"Don't worry, kiddo, there'll be other mysteries of the world to study," Johnathan replied, laying one massively-gloved hand on her shoulder.

Nodding, the redheaded woman shifted her hold on her battle rifle and followed the rest of the group into the control room. Inside, most of the squad crouched near the back wall as Cynthia stood near one corner of the windows, scanning the hangar below with the night-vision scope of her sniper rifle. "Pelican's still warm," she reported. "Pilots in the cockpit, no visual on the crew chief. Aside from no lights, nothing seems to be amiss."

"Got it," Alysia nodded, then changed her radio frequencies. "Pelican Hotel-192, this is Sergeant Alysia Fei. Do you read? Over."

"_This is Pelican Hotel-192, we read you, Sergeant Fei. Over. Where the hell are you guys?"_

"In the hangar control room. Wanted to warn you that we're going to break out the windows to get down into the hangar. We're getting out of here as soon as we're aboard."

"_Copy that. We'll leave the light on for you. Hotel-192 out."_

Switching back to her squad frequency and activating her external mic, Alysia turned to Cynthia and nodded. The sniper nodded in return, then raised her sniper rifle over her head and smashed it down onto the glass panel before her. The sound of the glass shattering seemed impossibly loud in the confined space as crystalline shards rained down to the deck below. Turning the rifle back to its normal position, she used the long barrel of the rifle to smash clear any remaining shards in the windowpane. With that done, she was the first one through, landing with a muffled thump on the deck two meters below. She scanned quickly left and right, then moved out of the way and blinked her acknowledgment light green.

In due time, the rest of the squad had made it through into the hangar proper. Chao, in the middle of the line and halfway to the Pelican, suddenly stopped as a cold chill ran up her spine. Directly behind her, Cheryl also stopped and gave the Chinese woman a strange look, masked by her helmet. "Ma'am?"

"Down!" Chao screamed suddenly, tackling the armored woman to the hangar floor, and just in the nick of time. Five jagged spears of ice shot through the space the two women had been occupying moments before, sailing out of the open hangar door and out into the night.

"What the fuck was that?" Johnathan snapped, scanning the direction the spears had come from with his shotgun. Moving in line behind the two women, he'd gotten a front-row seat for the attack, the likes of which he'd never seen before. New Covenant weapon?

"Everyone get to cover!" Chao shouted as she stood up, pulling Cheryl up alongside her and pushing her toward the Pelican. Staring around into the dark shadows, she settled into a familiar martial arts stance, focusing on herself and her surroundings, ignoring the agitated chatter of the ODSTs in the hangar.

A dark shape suddenly shot out of the broken hangar control room window toward her, and she stepped to the side, moving herself out of its flight path. As it passed her and she felt the sudden sharp bite of a blade nicking her armor over her right arm, she knew she'd made the correct choice to avoid rather than stop her attacker. She spun to counter, but the loud belch of a combat shotgun sounded as Johnathan unloaded a slug on the thing from behind the cover of a nearby weapon crate.

But to the big man's surprise, the small creature was not instantly disintegrated by the close-range blast. In fact, it seemed hardly fazed as it stood up, recovered its punching daggers, and turned to face Chao with a clatter of wood. It appeared to be no more than a wooden marionette, from the little maid uniform it wore to the smiling expression on its face, but the doll's murderous intent undercut its appearance. "Chao Lingshen," a European-accented voice emerged from the doll, despite having only a painted-on mouth. "It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"That's the damn thing that attacked me in the commander's office!" Cynthia snarled, leveling her battle rifle and firing off a burst. The 9.5mm rounds struck the doll perfectly in the back of the head, but likewise caused no harm.

The doll turned partially to give the sniper a baleful glare, then spun completely around and leapt toward her, drawing its punching daggers back. Cynthia raised her battle rifle to give the doll a taste of the metal stock, but before the thing reached her, there came a static flicker of displaced air, and a dark form suddenly appeared interspersed between sniper and doll, delivering a powerful crescent kick that sent the doll flying into the wall underneath the hangar control room.

Chao ignored the tingling sensation running through her extremities, a minor nuisance now, but she could tell that if she continued to use her abilities, that tingling would become more of a problem. Settling herself back into a combat stance, and planting herself between the doll and the open bay of the Pelican, she called out, "Chachazero! Where is your master!?"

The doll, Chachazero, merely tilted its head to one side as it stood staring across from Chao. Her answer came in the form of a pair of clapping hands, the noise originating from near the ice barrier blocking the hangar exit. Jonathan and Cheryl leveled their arms toward the sound, and in response, a voice familiar to them called out, "Lower your weapons, Marines."

"C-Commander?" Cheryl asked, her battle rifle automatically lowering. Johnathan's shotgun remained aimed, but the big man looked in confusion between his squadmate and the voice of their commanding officer.

Sensing that Chachazero was no longer a threat, Chao turned to face the voice, once more settling into a ready stance. "Show yourself," she ordered.

A faint energy chill ran through the air, and a figure appeared out of the darkness. To the surprise of the ODSTs, the figure was not the commander they had expected, wearing an ONI colonel's uniform, though the resemblance was uncanny. The figure coming out of the darkness was a young girl with long blonde hair, sharp green eyes, an evil smile, and clad in a tattered black cape and matching pointed hat. Without taking her eyes off of Chao, the girl said, "Good job, squad. Congratulations on a successful recovery." Her evil grin widening, the girl stared up at Chao. "It's been a long time, Chao Lingshen. Though, I suppose it's only been a few minutes to you."

Wary, Chao slowly rose out of her stance. "Indeed it has, Evangeline A. K. McDowell."


	4. That Old, Familiar Feeling

**A/N:** I really got nothin' this go-round, except for another warning (for anybody _other_ than Tikigod who reads this and just lurks instead of giving feedback) that more and more of the crossover will be made in this chapter. From this point forward, any attempts at reading this to find a Halo-only experience are futile. But judging from the amount of Halo/whatever crossovers I see in this section, this will just happen to be a new breed. Also; _Halo 3 Recon_: it'll be like _Unsung War_ in game form (Okay, so not, but still, ODST-centric games are the win). So, standard disclaimers apply: _Halo 3_ and all associated names, events, and organizations are the property of Bungie and Microsoft Studios, _Mahou Sensei Negima_ and all affiliated characters, events, and organizations are the property of Ken Akamatsu and Del Ray, and all original characters, organizations, and plot developments are the property of Project: Arashi.

* * *

**That Old, Familiar Feeling**

_November 4, 2552  
__UNSC Sector Command Base "Tama's Nest," Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan  
__0814 hours, local time_

Bravo-Six had been given about three hours of sleep after completing their mission, and then called to the briefing room for 'retraining.' After the sleep period, the previous damage that had been done to the base had been rectified, almost as if nothing had ever been wrong at all. When Alysia entered the briefing room, Cynthia was already present, seated in her traditional place in the first row into the room, the farthest seat from the door in that row. Down at the front of the room were the marionette Chachazero, Chao still wearing her battle suit, and Evangeline, still in the appearance of a ten year old girl. Chachazero sat on the front of the podium, kicking her wooden legs as she idly shaved small slices of wood from the podium with her blades. Behind the podium, Evangeline and Chao were quietly speaking.

Tugging gently on the fresh uniform she'd just put on, Alysia took a seat in the center of the room after getting a glance from Evangeline. The young girl sounded remarkably similar to their commander and even looked like her, but the sergeant was having a hard time wrapping her head around the concept that the two were one and the same.

At the front of the room, Chao followed Evangeline's gaze to see Alysia enter, then turned her attention back to the vampire standing cross-armed before her. "How many of the descendants have you been tracking?" she asked.

"As many as I could find," Evangeline answered. "Some of the family lines died out between the past and now, but many are still going. Rivale is the only one in Bravo-Six who doesn't have direct ancestry to either _Kuro Arashi_ or _Ala Alba_, but her skillset was required to fill out the squad."

"Mana and Lorenzo have no descendant?"

Evangeline smiled ruefully. "They do. Corporal Adrian Perez, assigned to Alpha Company of the 405th Marine Battalion. The Tatsumiya-Ruiz bloodline has apparently diluted heavily over the generations. He's not the marksman his ancestors were."

"He's still alive?"

The vampire nodded. "He's not completely unskilled. He survived action on Delta Halo. I've requisitioned him; once he arrives back on Earth, he'll be reassigned to us."

Chao gave a small nod and looked off to the side. She had been briefed by Evangeline concerning all that's happened since the first Covenant invasion of Earth, and was finally fully up-to-date on recent events. She glanced toward the door of the briefing room in time as the rest of the squad trickled in, taking scattered seats across the room.

Turning away from the Chinese genius, Evangeline stepped out from behind the podium; it was taller than she was, and looked over the squad, giving the group a toothy grin as she crossed her arms. "Once again, congratulations on a mission well completed. Before we get into the matters that I'm sure you're _dying_ to know about-" She saw Chao roll her eyes at the emphasis she placed on the word dying. "-I understand that you brought back some new intel and observations from the enemy lance you engaged."

"Yes, ma'am," Alysia said, standing up and pulling a datachip out of her breast pocket. With a nod from Evangeline, she stepped up to the holoprojector and plugged the datachip in. The image that came up displayed on the far wall of the briefing room was the new type of Phantom. "The enemy deployed from a new variant of the Phantom. This version featured completely open sides, no underside gravity lift, and door gunners."

Evangeline looked over the image for a moment, then glanced to her side. "Chachamaru, compile a 3D model of this new Phantom type and display it."

Attached to the holoprojector was a blue holoplate similar to the one in Evangeline's office. Above this plate appeared the image of the base's AI, a young-looking Japanese woman with long, straight hair and odd metallic coverings over her ears. "Model construction is complete," she reported, then her image disappeared, replaced with a wireframe 3D image of the Phantom.

Evangeline stepped up to the holoprojector and reached her fingers into the floating image, turning it this way and that, flipping it over, staring into the troop bay, all the while staring at it with an intent expression. "This model allows for extremely rapid deployment, and removes the one strategy we employed for dealing with the known Phantom model."

Chao nodded, adding her expert mechanical eye to the observation. "With troops jumping out either side at the same time, we no longer have the advantage of being able to pick them off as they came out of the grav lift one at a time."

"This new design leaves the troops horribly exposed, though, even with door turrets for protection," Cheryl offered. "A crack sniper like Cynthia can still pick off troops before they deploy."

"It's a risk they're willing to gamble," Evangeline said with a sneer, as though she considered the new design a personal offense. "Risky insertion like this, it's obvious this redesign is an example of Jiralhanae 'ingenuity.'"

"We also noticed that the lance we encountered was nothing but brutes, _and_ they were wearing new armor," Akio said.

Before Evangeline could call for it, Chachamaru automatically changed the image to the helmet camera images of the two blue-armored brutes and the gold-armored leader. "Reviewing the combat mission logs indicates that this new armor is powered," the holographic AI said. "Energy shields in place on the armor is comparable to the equivalent Sangheili ranks in terms of defensibility. However, it can be assumed by the fact that sustained damage causes armor pieces to fall away indicates that the Jiralhanae shields will not recharge the way that a Sangheili unit would."

"Well, at least there's a bright spot," the technician muttered sarcastically.

"They also are fielding at least one new weapon," Chao said, gesturing to the spike rifle laid beside the holoprojector on the table.

"The ammunition is some sort of superheated, sharpened metal projectiles as long as my forearm," Cynthia offered. "They cool incredibly fast after leaving the barrel, but I imagine they're no less deadly for it."

Chachazero hopped down from the podium and walked to the spike rifle, picking it up as though it were as light as a feather and flipping it over to inspect the blades attached to its underside. After a moment, the doll looked up at Evangeline, and though its expression was no different, its tone indicated an evil grin. "Master, may I keep this weapon? I think it suits me perfectly."

"Go ahead and keep it if you want," Evangeline said offhand, waving her right hand dismissively. "There's no ammunition in it. Now, the information I'm about to give you is unconfirmed, unofficial, and off the books. Word is filtering through the ONI ranks that there's been some kind of civil war in the ranks of the Covenant, turning the Sangheili against the Jiralhanae. The fact that this lance you encountered had no Sangheili anywhere in it seems to lend credence to the intelligence."

Murmurs ran through the squad at this. Jonathan leaned over and smacked Akio's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Hey, dude, wouldn't it be some shit if the Elites joined up with us against the Brutes? Enemy of your enemy, and all."

"The chances of that happening are very small," Alysia answered. "The bad blood between humans and Elites isn't just going to go away that fast."

Chao nodded her head in agreement. _It'd be a very cold day before I trusted my life to one of those aliens,_ she thought bitterly.

"Sergeant Fei is correct," Evangeline said. "Until we're proven otherwise, do not treat any Covenant race as nonhostile." She turned and walked to a supply crate sitting in a corner of the room. "Now, we've received a shipment of new reusable combat equipment, all lightweight, easy to carry, and very useful." Reaching into the crate, she produced a metal device the length of her arm, with four stubby legs to support itself and a domed top with a golden grid pattern.

Turning the device over, she inspected it for a moment, then placed it on the table with a heavy thump. "This is called a bubble shield. It projects an energy shield in a three meter sphere that stops explosions and all forms of fire. However, vehicles and personnel can still pass through it. Twist the dome to activate it, then drop it. Pick it up and twist the dome again to deactivate it. It also comes in a grenade form, though those are single-use only, and are best used for defending against plasma mortars and other large, sudden explosives."

The next piece of equipment she pulled out was similar to the bubble shield in appearance, except that it featured a green diamond instead of a gold-grid dome. "This is a regenerator. It projects a field of energy similar to the bubble shield and does exactly what it sounds like it should."

Chao suppressed a smirk. "That's...these equipments use magic, don't they?"

"So?"

"The mundane units don't get them?"

The holographic image of Chachamaru reappeared. "Bubble shield and regenerator equipment is supplied primarily to mage support special forces units," she explained to Chao. "However, we do not stand in the way of mundane units acquiring them. The equipment is simply explained away as being Covenant in design."

"Clever."

Evangeline dropped the regenerator on the table, drawing another heavy thud. "Like the bubble shield, the regenerator is reusable, and deploys in the exact same manner. Unfortunately, these tools are not light. They weigh forty-five and forty-four pounds, respectively. The grenade variant of the bubble shield weighs only fifteen pounds. We have more than enough of all of them to go around."

The diminutive blonde and the Martian native exchanged glances, then Evangeline nodded and looked back out at the ODSTs. "Ladies, gentlemen, you are about to become privy to humanity's secret weapon. Properly utilized, this weapon cannot be stopped by the Covenant, and will guarantee not only our survival, but absolute victory as well."

She noticed that the squad was sitting forward now, their attention raptly focused on their child-sized commander. They wanted to know what was going on, the explanation for her change in appearance. They hungered for the knowledge. She gave a toothy grin; this was where she would separate the fools from those truly worthy of the Ala Alba legacy.

"There is a secret world that exists parallel to the one you are familiar with," she began. "A world that you might at first consider to be weird and unnatural. But you will soon come to realize that this world is very familiar to you." She raised her left hand, perfectly-manicured fingernails pointing to each Marine in turn. "Each one of you bears a connection to this world, written into your genes, a part of your very blood. This world is a world of fantastical creatures, of legendary figures thought only to be myth, of places and things that normally are only seen in the realm of one's dreams.

"This world, is a world of magic."

The briefing room fell to dead silence following that remark. Evangeline ticked the seconds off in her head, counting out a full minute and seven seconds before the silence was broken as Cheryl sheepishly raised her hand and asked, "Umm... Are you serious?"

Evangeline gave the young woman a blank stare; it was all she could do not to leap across the room and slap the red out of her hair. The ancestry to Makie Sasaki was obvious with this one. "Staff Sergeant Sasaki, can you come up with any _other_ reason why I appear to be a child?" she asked in a voice normally used by a professor instructing especially slow students.

"Well, um... no..." the squad's pilot murmured.

"And for the record, this is actually my true form," Evangeline said, gesturing to her childlike body. "I normally maintain an illusion spell to appear in the form that you're used to seeing." She didn't underscore her point by activating her illusion, the way some of the squad was expecting her to.

"What _are_ you, Colonel?" Cynthia asked.

"I am a creature of legend, once considered a scourge on humanity," she intoned, noting with satisfaction the chill that crept through Cheryl, Akio, and Johnathan at her words. "I have gone by many names and many titles, among them Dark Evangel, Doll Master, Maga Nosferatu, The Undying Magi and, most recently, Hero." Just as swiftly as she adopted the menacing tone and appearance, she dropped it in favor of her standard casual attitude. "In short, I'm a daywalker."

For the second time in as many minutes, absolute silence filled the room. Crossing her arms, Evangeline watched the squad's reaction. Cheryl shifted nervously in her seat, Jonathan and Akio exchanged glances, Cynthia raised an eyebrow, and Alysia was visibly trying not to fidget. Finally, Akio hesitantly asked, "Ma'am, that's one of those vampires without weaknesses, right?"

"Gold star for the boy," Evangeline answered dryly. If at all possible, the squad's nervousness grew even more. Letting out an angry sigh, she slammed her hands down on the table before her. "Almost none of the major vampire weaknesses apply to me, and due to my _age_, I've gotten to the point where I only need one pint of blood every four or five _months_. So you've nothing to concern yourself with. If you've been stationed at this base for so long as you have without me draining any of you dry, then I'm not going to do so in the immediate future. The bottom line, ladies and gentlemen, is that you are still under oath of the United Nations Space Command, and I am still an officer of the Office of Naval Intelligence."

"Ma'am, I believe I speak for the rest of the squad when I say that we're just trying to take everything in," Alysia said. "It's come as a sudden shock to us to learn that our commanding officer is a child vampire and that there's apparently a hidden world of magic that we all have some connection to."

Evangeline nodded, regaining her composure and crossing her arms over her chest again. "Fair enough," she responded. "After all, in this day and age, magic is even less than a fairy tale. It doesn't help matters any that magic in bloodlines has become so diluted over the centuries."

"Don't do it, Ryuu," Johnathan said suddenly, casting a glare at his squadmate as he crossed his arms.

"Dammit," the technician muttered.

"He was about to ask your age, ma'am," the big man explained to Evangeline.

"Wise move on your part, Sergeant Kasuga," Evangeline said, smirking. "Sergeant Sakurazaki should know better than to ask a woman her age."

Just then, a Marine technician poked his head into the briefing room and said to Evangeline, "Ma'am, Lord Hood is on the line for you."

"Thank you, Corporal," Evangeline answered, nodding to the man, then turned toward the holopanel on the wall. She murmured a few words, then her form shifted into that of her older illusion, her uniform changing to match. She then nodded to the holographic form of Chachamaru, who connected the call to Fleet Admiral Sir Terrance Hood.

"_Colonel McDowell, how are things in the Far East?"_ the aging admiral asked.

"Much the same as they always are," Evangeline answered. "Good news all around, though. The long-awaited prodigal child has returned." She gestured to Chao, standing nearby.

Lord Hood turned toward the Chinese genius, spending only a moment to take in the sight of her battle armor, and the M6D holstered in a standard-issue holster on her right hip, then nodded. _"Glad to hear it. We thought we'd lost you when the _Athens_ went up. How are you feeling?"_

"Well enough, sir," Chao said. "Colonel McDowell..." She paused for a moment after saying that; addressing Evangeline with any sense of formal rank seemed odd to her. "Colonel McDowell has brought me up to speed on recent events, and I'm back and prepared to finish the fight."

A smile momentarily graced the old man's face. _"Good. We need all the able-bodied fighters we can get. Your... special skill set... will most undoubtedly prove to be quite the asset."_

Chao's glance snapped toward Evangeline, but the vampire nodded placatingly.

"_Colonel, what other news of our secret weapon?"_

Evangeline showed the admiral a fanged grin. "The timing is coming along about as I had anticipated," she said, then gestured toward the squad sitting in the room. "This unit is the last that needs to go through the training. How's the paperwork?"

Lord Hood nodded in return. _"All finished and in the books. You're now the commanding officer of the special operations brigade. Assign and redistribute the Marines under your command at your own discretion."_

Evangeline nodded and crossed her arms. "So, with all said and done, that'll give us roughly two thousand mage-equivalent soldiers. I've done my best to research and track all the soldiers we have under arms that have notable magical bloodlines, and requisitioned all of them that I could. Has HIGHCOM made up their mind yet whether or not they're going to republicize magic?"

"_No word's come down on that yet,"_ Lord Hood answered, shaking his head slowly. _"I, personally, don't see the sense in keeping secret our one weapon that the Covenant can't equal or counter. As much as I hate to admit it, the Elites are roughly on par physically with our Spartans, but we know for a fact that they don't have anything equal to magic."_

A sour look appeared on Evangeline's face. "Please don't tell me that we're under standing orders to use magic discreetly," she all but snarled. "Against the new power armor that the Jiralhanae are starting to field, no simple or easily-explained-away spells are going to be effective."

"_Well, the good news there is that it won't be necessary to keep your big spells under wraps,"_ Lord Hood said, then held up a small, pen-shaped device. _"The think-tanks down in Australia came up with a new toy just for your mage units. Portable memory-erasing device. It works well enough without causing permanent brain damage."_

"Ah, how convenient," Evangeline said, a sinister smile on her face. "A technological equivalent to the memory erasure spell." She looked over at Chao. "Didn't I tell you five hundred years ago that there'd be _some_ benefit to coming back?"

"_Large-scale devices are still in the works, so right now the portable ones are all you have,"_ Lord Hood continued. _"We've got the working prototypes ready for field testing, so we'll get a shipment delivered to you as soon as possible."_

Evangeline smiled humorlessly. "So, once again, we become the guinea pigs for the new gadgets." She shrugged. "That suits us just fine. We'll be ready for them by the time you get them here."

"_Music to my ears, Colonel. Then we'll be ready to move into the next phase of this war. Hood out."_ The communications window with the admiral blinked out.

Once the communication had ended, Evangeline turned to face the ODST squad and smiled a most menacing smile, one perfected over nearly a thousand years. "Well, it's time to complete your advanced training, Bravo-Six," she said. "Fall out to gather your arms and armor, then report back here in five minutes. Dismissed."

As the Marines filed out of the room, Chao moved up to sit in the second row of seats, draping her booted feet on the seat back ahead of her. "So you've trained nearly two thousand Marines to be mages as well as soldiers?"

The magicked vampire nodded, idly inspecting the fingernails of her left hand. "None of them match up to comparable levels of power as the Thousand Master, the boya, or even the two of us, but they're a force to be reckoned with, regardless. They'll certainly surprise quite a few Brute packs."

Chao raised her arms and clenched her fingers, watching with satisfaction as tiny sparks of fire energy flickered between her digits. She grinned. "It'll feel good to finally get some payback for everything the Covenant's done to us."

Evangeline nodded for a moment, then fixed her former classmate with a serious gaze. "You do know that it's _true_, of course," she said.

"The Covenant Civil War and the eventual Human-Sangheili alliance," the Chinese mage answered bitterly. "Yes, I know. As much as I don't care for it, there won't be any 'accidental burninations' coming from me." She clenched her teeth, resisting the urge to spit at her displeasure, but only just so.

The blonde vampire calmly and silently strode up to the row of seats Chao occupied, laying a hand on the synthetic armor covering her shoulder. "Even with the new mage units, we can't win the war without the Sangheili," she said softly. "Our allies from so many hundreds of years ago, they knew that we would live to see this age. This is the world, the future that they have entrusted us to. We've nothing but their memories left now, and we can't let them down by not using every means at our disposal to save the world."

Chao reached up her right hand, brushing her fingertips against the small, pentagon-shaped design sewn into her armor just beneath her left shoulder. She smiled faintly. "Yeah, you're right. Technically, we're still bound by the commitment we made as long as we draw breath, even though we fulfilled our allotted world-saving five hundred years ago."

"We bear the torch," Evangeline said with a nod. "A very wise woman once told me, no man can escape his destiny. Every era needs its heroes."

"But the Spartans are the hero of this age."

She scoffed. "The public heroes, maybe. But even in our days, when we were so famous, there were the heroes in the background, those who did as much to achieve victory as we did. This time, it's our turn. We'll be the background heroes, this time. We'll fight the unsung war."


	5. Roll Call

A/N: _Halo 3_, _Halo 3: ODST_, and all associated names, events, and organizations are the property of Bungie, Microsoft Studios, and 343 Industries. _Mahou Sensei Negima_ and all affiliated characters, events, and organizations are the property of Ken Akamatsu and Del Ray. All original characters, events, organizations, and plot developments are the property of Project: Arashi.

* * *

**Roll Call**

_November 4, 2552  
__UNSC Sector Command Base "Tama's Nest," Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan  
__0836 hours, local time_

The squad of Helljumpers returned to the briefing room in two minutes clad in their full battle rattle, airtight and puncture-proof urban camouflage bodysuits covered with plates of black ferroceramic armor protecting shins, thighs, torso, shoulders, and forearms; the overall ensemble loaded down with utility belts, ammunition bandoliers, grenade pouches, and that was just standard equipment. Each of the Helljumpers customized their armor in unique and individual ways; it came with the territory of being the UNSC's most elite special forces, second only to the SPARTANs.

Chao took a moment to inspect the individual customizations. Alysia's armor bore the red stripes of squad leader on the bottom edge of her shoulder plates, and her blood type, A-, was scrawled in white on the center of her right shoulder plate. The helmet she tucked under her right arm, which bore her last name stenciled in white, also had an additional antennae mount on the right rear of the helmet. Johnathan had his name stenciled on the right side of his helmet, and 'THE HEAVY' on the matching left side. Akio's armor plates bore a painstakingly-detailed pattern of dragon scales that culminated into the dragon skull painted over most of his helmet. Cheryl had white stripes painted on her shoulder plates and vertically up the center of her helmet, as well as the miniature 'eyebrow' wings of a designated pilot. Cynthia's armor, matching her personality, was left standard save for her name and blood type, her only accessory being the scout/sniper's best friend: an attached set of macrobinoculars.

All of the ODSTs were carrying their helmets, as well as some semblance of preferred weaponry. Each of them carried an M6C/SOCOM pistol strapped to thigh holsters, and Cheryl and Johnathan were the only ones not carrying battle rifles; an M7/S suppressed submachine gun for Cheryl and his replacement M90A for Johnathan. The special forces-specific SOCOM pistol and suppressed submachine gun were essentially new weapons to Chao, having never worked closely with ODSTs before.

"Before we begin your training, squad, I thought we would start with a history lesson," Evangeline said, still in the guise of her older form. It was the form they were most familiar with, and would offer them a little bit of comfort in the hell that was waiting for them. "So grab your brainpans and come with me."

She departed the briefing room as soon as she had given that order, Chao and Chachazero swift on her heels, leaving the Helljumpers to pick up their helmets and follow in their wake. As they traveled through the corridors of the base, fully-restored to their standard clean condition, other Marines and base personnel passed them on either side without comment, only salutes to Evangeline as the officer passed.

The base had never truly been in a state of shambles. It had all been an illusion crafted by Evangeline, an undisputed master of illusions, in order to give the squad a dry introduction to the world they'd be entering. She'd done the same thing, in some form or another, to every other squad she had trained. Over her long lifetime, she had learned that some people simply could not accept the possibility of there being more to the world than what they saw and felt everyday. Most of these people would simply crack up upon learning of the truth behind the 'supernatural' world. Her illusion test was a rough and dirty psychological evaluation, meant to weed out those kinds from the troopers she intended to train. She was pleased that over the course of training nearly two thousand mage-marines, she had not had to wash out a single trooper.

As the group filed past the mess hall, a number of Helljumpers from another squad; it was impossible to tell which since they weren't in armor; took notice of the procession and one of them called out, "Hey, Colonel, that the last batch?"

The dark mage had a knack for learning the names and faces of all the personnel assigned to her base, a knack she put to use as she answered, "Correct, Corporal Lampert. See you next week."

The four Helljumpers in the room broke into uproarious laughter and catcalls directed at the members of Squad Six, with comments ranging the gamut from 'hell training' to the necessity of clean underwear. The laughter and voices blended into an incomprehensible blur as the squad continued on, bewildered by the statements of their fellow special forces soldiers.

At the end of the corridor, the group piled into the elevator that would take them to the vehicle depot on the lower floor. The elevator descended, but instead of slowing in preparation to stop at sublevel one as they expected, the small car picked up speed as it shot past the lower level and continued down into the mountain the base was built into.

Though Evangeline stood at the front of the elevator and faced the closed doors, her keen perceptions told her the Helljumpers were exchanging surreptitious glances, confused both about sections of the base they didn't know about, and where they were truly going. With their helmets off, they couldn't discuss it amongst themselves over private frequencies, and she could tell they were burning with questions.

Before long, the steel and concrete elevator shaft gave way to rough-hewn stone, visible through the openings in the open-air elevator car. The deeper they went, the less light there was, with small torchlights installed in the walls of the shaft at even intervals. Cheryl fidgeted for a moment, then raised her helmet and sealed it to her bodysuit with a plastic _clunk_ and a hiss of air, activating her low-light vision mode to chase away the encroaching darkness in the familiar black-and-white vision mode.

"Turn off your LLV, Sasaki, or you'll blow out your optics," Evangeline said calmly over her shoulder, not even looking back. It unnerved the squad how she could tell who was doing what without looking. But then, all the stories about vampires they had heard suggested that she would have hyper-sensitive hearing, and could probably even tell them apart by the sound of their heartbeats.

"How?" the woman asked curiously. "The lighting in this tunnel isn't strong enough to damage the photoreceptors."

Inwardly, the daywalker was impressed that she had asked a logical question, instead of the 'well why not?' she would have expected from the ancestor with whom Cheryl shared a face. Though with this one, clarity and sense seemed to ebb and flow like the tides, and she may very well yet end up earning the title 'Baka Pink.' "The lighting situation is about to change," was all she said.

"Oh." That and a click, only audible to Evangeline due to her more-but-not-excessively-sensitive hearing, were the only response from Cheryl.

As Evangeline had said, the elevator shaft opened without warning into a massive underground cavern, stretching to the limits of the ODSTs' vision. A brilliant, warming blue-green glow filled the air, originating from the bottom of the cavern, the light ebbing and moving in a manner that indicated that it was produced by a fluid of some form. Sounds of awe and wonder came from the squad, who all immediately moved to the edges of the elevator car to look out at the cavern around them as the car descended on rails that ran from the tunnel above and disappeared down below them.

Only Chao was not moved by what she saw, for she knew that it had been here for as long as the islands of Japan existed, and would continue to do so long after, assuming that the Covenant didn't glass the planet. But then, that thought sent her mind down a path of musing. Glassing a planet burned off the atmosphere, boiled oceans, and made the land unlivable, but did that truly kill the planet itself? Was the planet's own lifeblood still not there, unfazed, below its desecrated outer surface? She'd never known about the energy flow before her journey to the past, and hadn't had time to research whether each planet had its own energy flow since she had come back.

"It's…so warm…" Cheryl breathed, kneeling at the bottom of the elevator car, her gloves pulled off and her bare palms pressed to the metal, absorbing the warmth of the chamber.

"This is totally wigging me out," Akio said, grinning, his entire head shoved out through one of the openings in the side of the elevator car. "Are you feelin' this, Kasuga?"

"You sound like a stoner," the big man said, his arms crossed over his barrel chest. But there was an expression of peace on his face to the extent that his comrades had not seen before.

Alysia, who had never put any stock in the sentiment of 'thousands of years of Chinese history,' could suddenly _feel_ the weight of her ancestry pressing on her as she stood looking out through the corner of the car. She almost felt as though she could hear faint, whispered murmurs of her ancestors in the back of her mind, causing a chill to run down her back.

Cynthia didn't seem to care one way or another about the cavern. "What are we looking at, Colonel?"

"This stream of living energy, existing on every planet that ever has or has the potential to support life, is the source of life," Evangeline answered. "It is what allows life to exist on this planet, and it is what gives we mages our power. Its fluid form contains incredible healing properties, as Lingshen is living testament of." Cheryl and Alysia glanced toward Chao at this, but neither she nor the vampire explained. "_That_, Marines, is the Lifestream."

At this, Akio's expression soured and he pulled his head back into the elevator. While the other ODSTs all had their visors raised, he now lowered his and polarized it, hiding his face behind the impenetrable black transparisteel. "So I guess my folks weren't full of shit," he muttered.

Evangeline turned to stare at him, her eyes penetrating through the forbidding black visor with ease. "No, child of the _Shinmeiryuu_, they were not."

Akio took a half-step forward and raised his right arm as though he were preparing to assault Evangeline, but the vampire's raising of her chin in a defiant, open invitation to take a swing brought him up short. He sighed and leaned back into the corner, hammering his fist against the metal wall of the elevator. "Shit, and here I thought the military was an _escape_ from all that bullshit."

"You can walk away at any time-_ne_," Chao stepped in, her back to the Helljumpers. "At least, that's what I understand out of all this."

"And she's correct," Evangeline said. "None of you have to stay or go through with this. Say the word, and you'll be transferred to one of the other mundane ODST divisions and no one will think any less of you for it."

Akio shook his head, then lifted his visor and spat out the side of the elevator. "Fuck that," he pronounced, slamming his visor down again. "In for a minute, in for a mile, or whatever that old-ass saying is."

"In for a penny, in for a pound," Cheryl corrected. "It's from England."

"You know a lot of that really obscure shit," Akio deadpanned.

The red-haired woman shrugged uncomfortably and tugged her gloves back on, sealing them back to the rest of her armor. She then pulled her helmet back on and raised her visor, tapping a finger against her suppressed submachine gun locked to the magnetic plate on her right thigh armor to reassure herself of its presence.

As that little scenario played out, Johnathan stood in the rear corner with his arms crossed, and glanced over toward Cynthia, who stood in the opposite corner, and said, "You know, now's one of those times it pays to be the strong, silent type."

At first, the squad expected her to snap back with a biting retort, but she simply nodded and said, "Indeed."

The rest of the descent was made in silence as the elevator car dropped through a specially-cut hole in the floor of the cavern, coming to rest with the roof of the elevator car filling the hole in the floor of the cavern. The corridor into which the car opened was unremarkable in that it looked like it could have been on any UNSC frigate or capital ship. At the far end, a heavy blast door sealed the corridor, guarded by a combination security keypad panel/holographic plate to the right side of the door.

As the group neared, the holographic plate lit up, the blue-tinted form of Chachamaru appearing in one-eighth scale. "Training facility has been activated and prepared for extended use, Master," she reported. "All necessary provisions have been replenished and await use."

"Excellent," Evangeline responded, typing codes into the keypad. "That will be all. I leave the base in your capable hands, Chachamaru."

The holographic figure bowed. "Thank you, Master." She vanished in a flicker of light.

Chao continued to stare at the plate for a few moments longer. "So she's a smart AI now."

"Far more sophisticated than even the most advanced of the flash-cloned 'smart' AIs that the rest of the Corps uses," Evangeline answered without looking up. "Doesn't have that troublesome seven-year shelf-life, either."

The Chinese woman raised an eyebrow. "She _prototyped_ the UNSC smart AIs." She shook her head slowly, stunned by the implications. "I certainly made a hell of a paradox, didn't I-_yo_?"

"You could look at it that way. Or you could look at it as having changed the future for the better."

Chao tilted her head to the left, saying nothing, her question obvious.

"I imagine that you avoided such things like the plague, but did you ever hear in any of the fictional lore of those old _Halo_ games anything about a vampire working for ONI, or a secret base in the area of Old Hinata?"

As Evangeline had stated, Chao had, during her tenure in the past, gone out of her way to avoid anything to do with the 'fictional' game universe that, to her, made light of humanity's losing war for survival against the Covenant. Unfortunately, she'd not been able to avoid it entirely, not fighting alongside those that she had back during that Unification War.

"No, and we certainly would have heard complaints from Seno and Hiroyuki-_ne_, claiming that Bungie was 'stealing' from them again."

"Precisely. And prior to your coming back in time, had you ever heard anything about any of that, or about the Unification War? It wouldn't have been hard to find something about it, had it previously existed, not considering you found out about magic and your ancestry easily enough."

Chao shook her head. Never, in any of the ancient books and ONI-censored literature she had read, had anything come up concerning a war of unification in the early twenty-first century. "Are you saying that I directly caused everything that happened in the past-_ne_?"

"I highly doubt _that_," Evangeline answered. "The events with the _Kuro_ crew and their conflict with Gensai and Namusan would have occurred regardless of your presence. We simply would've been short one hero, and without your Cassiopeia for them to use to trap us for those four years, we probably would've put a stop to them before it became the global catastrophe that it was."

"So it _was_ my-"

"Do not forget the outcome of the Unification War, Lingshen," the vampire cut her off. "Thanks to that war, there was no longer any distinction between the 'world of light' and the 'world of dark,' as you once put it."

"But it doesn't seem to have done any good-_yo_," Chao said bitterly, gesturing offhand back toward the squad of ODSTs. "I haven't come back to find a world where magic is as much a battlefield implement as the Warthog is-_yo_. _Nothing has changed._"

Evangeline whirled around and stepped directly up to the Chinese woman, staring down at her over her nose. "No, _everything_ has changed. You said yourself that the mage bloodlines had run dry in your time, and yet you look here around you, you see the Lifestream still as strong as it ever was, you see these adepts with the blood of their ancestors flowing strong within them, needing only to be awakened."

The undying mage took a moment to calm herself, then turned away and continued entering commands on the keypad. "Magic isn't common knowledge anymore because there's a new inquisition in town, going by the name of Office of Naval Intelligence."

Chao scoffed and looked away, crossing her arms. "Some things haven't changed-_ne_."

"They suppressed the knowledge we helped to foster, the poor fools considering magic to be unpredictable and too dangerous to use as a reliable weapon," Evangeline explained. "Fortunately, there are those within the ranks, such as Admiral Hood, who understand the great boon we could be. Though, I imagine one day there will be conflict, the new breed of mages against ONI's witch hunters. But not so long as the Covenant remains our primary threat."

Nodding solemnly, Chao flexed her fingers, causing minor sparks of red magic energy to flicker between them. "Good-_ne_. I've got a score to settle with ONI."

Evangeline grinned the fangy, evil grin that she was well known for back in the early twenty-first century. "Yes, they've racked up quite a debt that I will be happy to extract from them, with interest."

The blast door before the squad ground open, revealing another long corridor stretching out before them, though this one was vastly different than the one they had just come through. The walls and ceiling of the corridor held transparisteel windows spaced at regular intervals, allowing the soothing, blue-green light of the Lifestream outside the area to shine in and provide natural lightning. Spaced evenly in pairs down both sides of the corridor were forty-four dimly-glowing pedestals.

Chao was just as surprised as the rest of the squad as she gazed upon the pedestals, counting their numbers before looking toward Evangeline. "These are…"

Evangeline turned to regard the squad, who were cautiously entering the corridor as though they expected to be attacked at any second. "This is the Hall of Heroes," she explained. "ONI has suppressed the knowledge of the past, so it is here that the heroes of olden days are honored for their deeds."

"Olden days…" Chao murmured. "You make us sound like a band of medieval adventurers-_ne_."

"Five hundred years _is_ the olden days to these kids," Evangeline answered off-hand. She looked to the squad again. "Go on, interact with them. Approach one of the pedestals and you'll activate a semi-interactive hologram of the Hero honored there."

Slowly, the squad began making their way down between the rows of pedestals. Evangeline moved to stand beside Chao, then crossed her arms and nodded to the Helljumpers. "Now, watch."

Each of the ODSTs moved toward a particular pedestal, chosen supposedly at random. No names were affixed to any of the pedestals, but as Evangeline had stated, holograms, in full color and detail, began to flash into place.

Johnathan stopped in front of one pedestal and crossed his arms. From the base of the pedestal flashed a pillar of light, within which appeared a young woman with short, cropped dusky brown hair wearing a nun's habit. _"My name was Misora Kasuga,"_ the hologram said. _"Seat number nine in Mahora Gakuen Class 3-A. I was a _ministra magi_ to Cocone, and fought alongside _Ala Alba_ and _Kuro Arashi_ during the Unification War. Much of my free time was spent either working for the priesthood at the St. Ursula church or devising pranks to pull on my classmates and comrades-in-arms."_

The big man leaned back a little, one eyebrow raised, both eyes slightly widened. "Huh, so this… my ancestor, huh?"

The hologram of Misora blinked sedately. _"I'm sorry, I do not understand the statement. My responses are limited. You must ask the correct questions."_

Johnathan smirked and uncrossed his arms. "Sorry, it's just I've had a lot to take in today."

Misora's hologram smiled. _"That I do understand,"_ she said. _"I often times felt overwhelmed by the events going on around me, as I was more of a supporting role than a direct combatant."_

"Yeah, must've been tough."

In the opposite row, several pedestals down, Alysia felt like she was looking into a mirror as her ancestor, Chinese martial arts expert Ku Fei, appeared before her in hologram. After listening to the introduction speech, delivered in Ku's inimitable pidgin English, Alysia reached up and pulled her helmet off, revealing her matching visage to the hologram, which reacted by recoiling in surprise and letting out a startled shriek.

"_You look like me-aru!"_ the hologram stated.

Alysia smiled faintly. "Yes, _nainai_," she answered, and bowed toward the hologram. "I am Alysia, your descendant."

The holographic Ku seemed to recover, and assumed a more upright posture, folding her hands within the sleeves of her outfit. _"Your armor, it not something I familiar with. Yet you hold yourself like warrior. You strong warrior?"_

Alysia remained bowed, unsure why she felt the need to do so, or remain deferent to the hologram, but knowing it was proper. "I seek always to better myself."

"_Ho, ho, ho, ho, good answer. You leader of men, I see it in you. Strong, dedicated, caring. A good leader. Fei family legacy is safe in your fists-aruyo."_

"I'm honored," Alysia said.

Back near the entrance, Chao smirked. "Good personality simulacrums-_yo_."

"Coming from you, that's high praise," Evangeline answered. "Though, I expect trouble when Sakurazaki finds his. As you may have noticed, he's not exactly fond of his heritage."

The lanky tech specialist stopped as he passed in between two pedestals, slowly turning to face the one on his right. It activated, and in the pillar of light appeared a beautiful young woman with long, black hair wearing clothing typical to an _onmyouji_ mage. _"My name was Konoe Konoka, student number thirteen of class 3-A. I was once _ministra magi_ to Negi Springfield, but following the deaths of my father and grandfather during the Unification Wars, I became the head of the Kansai and Kanto magic associations and unified them into the Greater Japan Magic Society."_

Akio scoffed and took a step back, arms crossed angrily over his chest. "Tch, forgot to mention that you were a fuckin' homo freak."

The hologram of Konoka recoiled in shock from the ODST, tears beginning to gather in the corners of her eyes. Behind Akio, the pedestal opposite Konoka's activated, revealing a woman wearing a red hakama and white gi, with snow-white hair, ruby-colored eyes, and feathered wings that matched the color of her hair. She appeared extremely angry. _"You who bear the name Sakurazaki and my cursed blood, your impudence knows no bounds to speak in such a manner to Konoka-_ojousa_-"_

"_Secchan!"_

The white-haired woman snapped upright, then raised a hand. _"It's in the interest of punishment that I speak so formally of you, Kono-_chan_."_

The brunette smiled. _"Well, carry on then."_

Akio chuckled as he turned to face the hologram of his ancestor. "Sure kills whatever you were going to say since I've already seen how much of a short leash she keeps you on."

This did nothing to lessen the intensity of her glare. _"Though my words may fall on deaf ears, I assure you that your training shall not be over quickly, nor shall you enjoy it. And you shall see exactly just what sort of a 'leash' I am on."_ The hologram blinked out.

"Well, he's done it now," Evangeline said, shaking her head.

"These seem more than mere holograms-_ne_," Chao said, watching a spirited interaction between Cheryl and the hologram of her ancestor, Makie Sasaki.

Evangeline nodded. "They're magical projections," she affirmed. "They share much of their properties with projections created by the artifact of Albeiro Imma of _Ala Rubra_. For all intents and purposes, these holograms are an exact imprint of the individual at the time they were recorded, including physical appearance, emotional states, and capabilities."

"The magical properties of the Lifestream prolong the lifespan of the projections, I imagine-_ne_."

"Sort of. I cast _Permanence_ on them, using the Lifestream so I wouldn't burn through my own mana pool." Brushing a hand through her long blonde hair, she passed down the rows of pedestals, making her way to the door at the far end. "Now that you've gotten acquainted with your ancestors, it's time for your training to begin. Come along, squad."

"_Go,"_ Ku Fei's projection told Alysia. _"I see you later."_

Alysia nodded and pulled her helmet back over her head, then headed toward Evangeline. Cheryl and Makie exchanged waves as the redheaded Helljumper followed after her squad leader, leaving the hologram of the 3-A gymnast swelling with pride. Johnathan nodded solemnly to his ancestor, then turned to join his squad. Akio scoffed at the pedestals of his ancestors and brushed his armor as he walked toward the group at the end. Cynthia passed between the rows of pedestals without pausing or looking at any of them.

Chao walked slowly down the rows of pedestals, looking between them as she passed, and as she drew near, each activated, allowing her to look again upon her friends and classmates as they had been in the prime of their lives. She imagined that she would spend much time here as the time passed on and it began to hit home to her that she would not be seeing any of them again.

As she passed, each greeted her in their own unique way, some by bowing or waving, others by nodding, and some by the strange and complex hand gestures they had been known for. Ku Fei held out her hand as Chao neared, and as the Chinese genius reached out to clasp it, she found herself surprised that the 'hologram' had a physical substance. Ku Fei grinned at Chao's surprised appearance, a grin which she quickly matched as she squeezed her friend and ancestor's hand. Ku Fei lifted her other hand in a clenched fist that she held over her heart, Chao mirroring the motion, and the two bowed to each other.

She actually felt the part of the hero that she was said to be as she continued through the other half of the pedestal rows, enduring backslaps, handshakes, and other forms of greetings--it had been hundreds of years since these projections had seen her, after all--all of them delivered in a strange silence completely unbecoming of some of her old friends that made it feel as if she were marching the green mile.

Evangeline waited until they had all gathered at the next doorway, which was not protected by any sort of security system, and was merely a featureless wood panel door. "Before we pass beyond this door, I will explain a few things. Inside is an illusory space that I use for training. I had one like it five hundred years ago that was used to train _Ala Alba_, and in the spirit of those times, I still refer to this new one as my 'resort.' Inside, you will find that time flows differently. One day within the resort, one twenty-four hour period, passes in merely an hour in the real world. Once you have entered, you cannot leave until one twenty-four hour period has passed. This does not matter in this case, because none of you are going to leave until seven days have passed."

"Seven real days?" Cynthia asked blandly.

"Of course."

It was silent for a moment as the Marines did the math. Surprisingly to Evangeline, it was Cheryl who came up with it first. "But that means we'll be in there for…"

"That's right," Evangeline said. "From your perspective, your training will last one hundred and sixty-eight days. This is your absolute last chance to back out."

Chao half-expected some of them to balk. Evangeline, aware of the potential of that, had played her cards very shrewdly by showing the squad their ancestors before telling them the duration of the training. Now they felt as though they had a name to live up to.

None of them balked.

After several moments of complete silence, Evangeline looked to each Helljumper in turn, then nodded and placed her hand on the doorknob. "I take your silence to mean that you are all still committed to the task. Very well, then. Your chance at leaving is now gone. For the next one hundred and sixty-eight days, you belong to me. I promise that I will destroy each and every one of you, and that in destroying you, you will be reforged stronger, faster, and more powerful than you can ever have imagined. Many of you will remember your basic military training and your ODST training, and think fondly back on those days."

At that statement, Cheryl, whose visor was depolarized, visibly paled. Evangeline grinned and threw open the door, blinding everyone with a blast of dazzlingly-bright illumination.

"But before this time is up, you will find in yourselves and in your fellows a greater strength than you have ever known, and your bonds as a squad will become as that of family, unbreakable by anything human or Covenant that will ever be placed before you. Here you will earn your family names, on the battlefield you will do your ancestors proud. Step forward and jump into Hell, troopers; I guarantee that no orbital drop will phase any of you again once I'm through with you."


	6. Spectres in the Fog

**A/N:** To hell with disclaiming all the Halo stuff as being owned by bungie. When they stop stealing shit from us, I'll start giving them due credit again. In watching the live-action trailer for Recon, I noticed that Tarkov had his name painted across the back of his helmet in white. Stealing my idea for easy identification and yet moving where the name is placed in order to poorly disguise your blatant theft are we, bungie?

In any rate, _Mahou Sensei Negima!_ and all related characters and events are copyright Ken Akamatsu and Del Ray, and all original characters and events are copyright Project: Arashi. Now enjoy your double-length chapter, kids.

* * *

_The Squad  
__Evangeline's Training Resort  
__0936 hours, internal time, Day One_

When her vision cleared inside the now-sealed resort, Chao found herself standing with Evangeline and the rest of the squad on a sun-bathed hill overlooking a medium-sized city. It took her brain a moment to process what she was seeing, but when she did, she broke through the line of ODSTs and dashed forward to where the terrain began to slope downwards, staring slack-jawed at the intimately-familiar city sprawled out below them.

"This," Evangeline began, for the ODSTs' sake, "is an exact recreation of Mahora as it was in the early twenty-first century, in the year 2007, specifically. Every detail imaginable is as it was back then, sight, smell, sound, touch, you name it. There are inhabitants as well, but they are as much illusion as the city itself, and when the time comes for serious training likely to cause collateral damage, they will be removed from the equation."

"Why have people here at all, then?" Cheryl asked.

"Because the human brain is a curious thing in that it requires interaction with other humans, and five months spent here with no company other than yourselves will have a detrimental affect on your minds," Evangeline answered frankly. "Helljumpers are crazy enough already without compounding the problem with last-man-on-earth psychosis."

She cleared her throat, brushing away the topic, and continued, "This place will become your home, as it once was to Lingshen and I. If you are not of sturdy enough constitution to take in the training you will receive, this place will become your tomb."

As though to underscore her words, a white blur suddenly dove out of the sky and smashed into Akio, throwing him out of the gathered squad and sending him crashing backwards into the grass a dozen feet away. The other ODSTs snapped weapons to immediately, tracking in the direction the blur had gone, back up into the sky.

"Stand down, Marines!" Evangeline commanded. "He brought this on himself."

Groaning in pain, Akio pulled himself into a sitting position and looked up into the sky, to see the white-haired winged woman from before hovering in midair, keeping herself aloft with occasional downbeats of her feathered wings. A long _nodachi_ was held in her right hand, the blade shining in the sunlight as she glared down at the Helljumper.

"Agh, shit!" Akio cursed, looking around for where he'd dropped his battle rifle. "What the fuck is this!? That bitch was supposed to be a hologram outside!"

Evangeline smiled wickedly, crossing her arms. "The Hall of Heroes and the resort are connected magically. The magical copies of the Heroes reside within the resort and project themselves onto the pedestals outside as they will. In here, they are absolutely real, with the full measure of their powers and abilities available to them, and you should perhaps have thought twice before angering the one whose job it is to instruct you in the complete ways of the _Shinmeiryu_."

Akio cursed and stared up at his ancestor, whose expression nearly mirrored Evangeline's evil smile. "Ah, fuck, you serious that I have to learn that decrepit shit?"

The white-haired woman raised one slender eyebrow, then looked at Evangeline as though seeking permission. The vampire shrugged. "He's your descendant, do with him what you like. Just try not to blow up my resort again."

Smiling cruelly, the white-haired woman raised her sword above her head, clasping it with both hands. The blade seemed to glow white as a powerful aura flared up around her. In the distance, thunder rumbled.

Evangeline responded to this with a facial tic, then sighed and closed her eyes. "_Lic lac la lac lilac spiritus…_" she murmured, and a spherical, opaque shield of light purple energy formed around her. She then crossed her arms and regarded the Helljumpers. "I'd deploy those bubble shields or else get the hell out of Dodge. About three hundred feet away should be safe. Maybe."

The squad exchanged looks, and decided clearing the area would be a better idea. They started to run for the downslope of the hill, and as Akio moved to follow, Evangeline snapped out her right hand, and he suddenly found himself rooted to the spot. He struggled for a moment, and then spotted what appeared to be thin wires wrapped around his feet, trapping him in place. Evangeline said, "Not you, boy. You're going to sit there and take it. Deploy a bubble shield and I'll kill you." Despite the bored tone of her voice, there was no mistaking the genuine threat therein.

"Son of a fucking bitch," Akio muttered, tossing away his grenades to ensure they wouldn't cook off on him from whatever he was about to get hit by, and then bracing himself as best he could.

"No descendant of mine cowers in fear!" the winged woman proclaimed, her voice carrying clearly and commandingly despite the distance and sudden howling wind. "Stand and face your punishment!"

"Fuck you!" he shouted back, though he did stand upright, if only so his squadmates couldn't heckle him about cowering.

"You will learn your place, fledgling, or it is not the Covenant that will portend your doom," she said calmly, though her voice was still heard. "You who believe the ways of _Shinmeiryu_ to be mere parlor tricks, look upon my power and despair."

"Hey! Don't steal my lines!" Evangeline shouted.

A faint smile appeared on the woman's face, before it disappeared, and she calmly intoned, "_Shinmeiryu Kessen Ougi_…" Thunder rumbled again, and a lightning bolt lanced out of the cloudless sky, striking the blade and charging it with electricity. "_Shin Raikouken_!"

She swung her blade in an arc toward him, and the charged energy in the weapon recollected into another lightning bolt that shot down at him. When the bolt struck, it exploded into an opaque sphere of energy fifty feet across, centered on him. The sphere roiled violently in place for several moments before quietly dispersing, revealing a smoking crater where it had been, the vegetation burned away, and Akio laying in a crumpled heap in the center of the crater, parts of his armor melted or burned, the faceplate of his helmet shattered. Several pieces had shattered inward, bloodying his face from lacerations.

Cheryl was the first one to his side, gripping his helmet and attempting to pull it free. The massive heat from the lightning blast had melted parts of the helmet and bodysuit, fusing it into one single piece. "I can't get it off him! Johnathan, get over here and help me!"

The big man ran over and got a grip on the helmet, attempting to tug it off by brute force. It wasn't until he started trying to twist it like a jar lid that Cynthia called out, "Knock it off, you'll pull his entire head off doing that."

"Step aside," the white-haired woman, now approaching on foot, said. "That will require cutting to remove."

Brave little Cheryl stepped between Akio and the woman, blocking her path. "You just tried to kill him…" she began.

"No, I _disciplined_ him," the woman corrected, though she gave the red-haired woman a faint smile for her display of squad loyalty. "If he is smart, he will have learned his lesson."

"It's okay, Cheryl," Alysia called out, pulling off her helmet and holding it in her left hand. "Let her do what she needs to do."

Reluctantly, Cheryl stepped aside, and the woman turned to nod to Alysia, before fixing eyes with Chao. "Chao-_san_, hold him up please."

Figuring out in short order what the woman had in mind, Chao stepped forward and pulled Akio up to his feet, then braced him upright against her and made sure that no part of her was on a higher plane than his neck. The woman turned and took two steps away, placing her at what looked like _just_ inside the effective reach of her blade. Facing Akio again, she made two fast swipes with her blade, too fast for the naked eye to follow, and the helmet/bodysuit fused assembly neatly parted just beneath the lip of the helmet, allowing Cheryl to pull it off and start field triage.

"Yeah, this is one of those situations where having a dedicated medic would be a useful thing," Johnathan remarked as he stood behind Cheryl, handing her the necessary tools from her pack.

"That's being worked on," Evangeline said. "By the time this squad is prepared for battle, a medic will be added to the team."

Alysia glanced toward the blonde vampire, then focused back on her team. "Well, how is he?"

"Well, he's not _dead_," Cheryl answered, tapping a finger uncertainly on a canister of biofoam. "Lacerations from the broken helmet, concussion from the force of…whatever that was, some minor heat injuries. It's really hard to tell what's going on here." After a few moments, she sighed, shook her head, and handed the biofoam back to Johnathan to put back in her pack.

"He'll survive," the woman said, returning her blade to its sheath. "That technique is only lethal against those with truly wicked souls."

Johnathan shook his head and scoffed as he stood up and retrieved his weapon. "Tch, wonder how that's going to work on the Covenant."

The woman did not mistake his words for dismissal. "We shall see, once his training is complete."

At the peripheral of these events, Cynthia noticed that the squad had an audience, consisting of the squad's Hero ancestors and a few others besides. She let out a low whistle to draw the others' attention to this. Evangeline explained, "Your training will come in two parts. First is individual training. You will each be undergoing solo training, mostly from your direct ancestors, and under those who can teach whatever other particular talents might suit you. This is where most of your time will be spent. Learn everything they can teach you, and even go out of your way to learn that which is not on your curriculum, as it were.

"The second half of your training will be much shorter, consisting of the last natural-time day that you will spend here. This will be a test of what you have learned and your ability to fight and survive together against overwhelming odds. Many of you have already faced such 'overwhelming odds' against the Covenant…" Evangeline, at this point, glanced at Cheryl and Johnathan. "Hopefully that will serve you in the final test, and the experience gained from this test will serve you once you leave here. Never before in the history of mankind have the odds ever been so overwhelming. But do not despair, for we already possess the greatest weapon we could ever hope to have."

Cheryl and Johnathan exchanged looks and, after a moment, shrugged. Alysia tilted her head to the side and pondered what that weapon could be, and Cynthia didn't care, because she suspected that this 'weapon' wasn't truly a weapon at all. "You lost me," Johnathan said.

"That weapon," said a man's voice, as an auburn-haired young man in his late teens or early twenties approached the group, "is tenacity, is determination, is steadfast resolution. That weapon is the human will to survive against all odds."

Evangeline crossed her arms as she nodded to the young man. "It's just as the _boya_ says. This training will tap that deeply-ingrained instinct, and when you leave here, greater instruments of destruction and death upon our enemies will never be found. Now, this little introductory session is over." She waved a hand dismissively and regarded the ancestors. "Heroes, take your students and teach at your whim."

Ku Fei stepped forward and looked between the Helljumpers, her hands hidden within the folded sleeves of her robes. "Before training with your ancestors, you _all_ train under me. You learn how to fight with fists and feet as only weapons, for these weapon never run out of bullets."

"You heard her, Marines," Alysia called out as she tightened several straps on her armor. Learning to fight hand-to-hand unarmored was all well and good, but she didn't think it worth much if she didn't learn how to do it in full kit. "Shift it! Time to learn the advanced combat courses."

Holding up a hand, Ku Fei shook her head. "No, no learn here." She pointed to the massive World Tree in the distance. "Teach under World Tree. You have two minutes."

Cynthia looked toward the tree. "That's close to two miles from here."

"I suggest run."

The four still-conscious Helljumpers exchanged looks, and Cheryl was the first one to take off, followed shortly by the rest of the squad as they ran with all available haste toward the tree. Ku Fei watched them run for a few moments, smiling and nodding her approval at how quickly they had taken orders from her. Then she produced a teleportation charm from within her clothing, murmured a few short words, and vanished in a flash of light.

Several of the Heroes leisurely headed in the direction of the World Tree, but a handful remained behind, including the auburn-haired young man and a woman with short, thick blue hair, the two of whom approached Chao. "I'm still not entirely certain how it is that you claim relation to both myself and Ku-_roshi_, even considering…"

Chao smirked and answered, "It's simple-_ne_. The great-grandchild of yourself, Negi-_bozu_, and Nodoka-_san_ eventually married one of Ku Fei's great-grandchildren. Thus, on my mother's side, I trace my ancestry back to you, and on my father's side, to Ku Fei."

The magical recreation of the twenty year-old Negi Springfield laughed as though that were the simplest answer in the world. "I see! That's a much more logical look at things. You really had us all going then, that time."

Twenty-six Nodoka Springfield tilted her head to one side. "Then, my ancestor that you mentioned that had a paper copy of my card…?"

"Mind you, this was before my travels in time apparently altered the timelines-_ne_, but it seems that he was a distant cousin of mine, like Fei-_san_ is, though the generational gap between her and I is smaller." Chao shrugged. "Miyazaki wasn't Akira's birth name; he changed it after learning of his heritage-_yo_, and seeing how much like Nodoka-_san_'s that his personality was."

Negi colored nicely. "It seems that I've been rather…prolific."

Laughing, Chao assuaged, "And monogamous, I assure you-_ne_. Despite some individuals' best efforts."

No names were mentioned, but both magical images suspected that former class representative, Ayaka Yukihiro, was top of the list.

Chao's sideways bob of her head indicated the departed Marines. "You'll be teaching them?"

Negi offered a shrug. "I don't think so. My training would be the use of magic to augment physical combat, as well as the use of wind and lightning spells, but these Marines don't have any significant mana pools, and are more combat than magic-oriented."

Chao nodded. "They'd be _ministra_ rather than _magistra_," she said, to which Negi nodded again. "I imagine that they could benefit from Asuna-_san_'s training in _kankahou-ne_."

"Yes, especially Alysia-_san_ and Johnathan-_san_," her ancestor agreed. "They would doubtless get the best use from it."

"And you, Nodoka-_san_?" Chao asked of her distant grandmother.

"I can only teach them the most basic of mind-reading techniques, such as the ability to communicate simple messages with one another to improve their coordination," the former librarian answered as she watched their receding, black-clad backsides. "They don't have the talent for anything else."

"In terms of raw power," Evangeline said as she joined the conversation, "Sakurazaki is the most powerful among them, because of his blood and its inherent connection to _Shinmeiryu_. If he learns everything that Setsuna and the Nakakamis can teach him, and opens up to his full potential, then he'll be able to swat the Covenant cruisers from the very sky."

_Alysia  
__Forests Outside the Tatsumiya Shrine  
__0313 hours, internal time, Day Four_

Alysia had, true to her family name, swiftly learned the basic and advanced Chinese martial arts that her ancestor had to teach her. That had only taken two days. In response to her 'advanced' learning habits, Alysia now had the dubious honor of receiving accelerated, personal training separate from the rest of her squad. Her training started at midnight and ran to six AM when she _still_ had to remain and participate in the 'basic' martial arts lessons. It was a traditional sleep deprivation tactic, one she was familiar with. And she was not ungrateful for the advanced techniques.

At least, that's what she thought when she didn't have logs the size of a Warthog flying at her head at a speed she doubted even a Spartan could keep up with. Three hours into the second day of her 'advanced' training found her beaten black-and-blue by the flying logs, but at least she was now managing to dodge them with a steady consistency.

"Excellent! You good at dodging projectiles! No brute going to shoot you now!" her ancestor praised.

The logs had ceased flying, at least for a moment. Panting, Alysia leaned over and gripped her knees for support, taking the opportunity to suck in as much oxygen and rest her screaming muscles for as long as she was allowed to rest. She didn't anticipate she'd be given long.

Ku Fei did not disappoint her. "Okay, break over! You not allowed to dodge anymore."

Alysia's expression spoke volumes where her voice could not, prompting from her ancestor, "What if you get caught in hallway by brute with big blade gun? Can't dodge there. Must know how to block or deflect."

Gasping for breath, Alysia steadied herself long enough to remark, "But brute shot grenades _explode_ on contact…"

This was obviously news to Ku Fei. "Oh, they do? Well now logs explode, too. Good luck!"

_Cheryl  
__City Center  
__0525 hours, internal time, Day Six_

She had learned that her heroic ancestor had been renowned as a highly-athletic gymnast, capable of contorting her body in ways that would make most people cringe. In order to train up to even some of that capacity, she had believed that there would be a lot of stretching and calisthenics in her training regimen.

She hadn't entirely been wrong. She was instructed in a number of muscle-stretching moves that would help her to limber up her body. Makie had showed her an obstacle course that she would be required to complete, and then went through it herself as demonstration, resulting in a number of maneuvers that had Cheryl wondering if her ancestor had not been made of flesh and bone but rubber and magic.

As part of her training regimen, she was required to maintain the stationary positions for hours on end, in the interest of stretching her muscles and allowing them to grow accustomed to reaching those new lengths. Over the days, she had to admit that it _was_ affecting her reaction time and her ability to move fluidly, so it was helping. Aside from the mind-numbing stiffness of being forced to remain in one awkward position for hours, she wasn't finding this 'hell training' so bad. But then, the worst was yet to come, and she knew it.

She looked up from where she had been concentrated on staring at the ground to find Makie prancing around in front of her wearing her ODST armor. The two relatives were of similar height and body shape, so the armor actually fit Makie fairly well, albeit being a bit loose in the chest.

"Bang, bang!" Makie exclaimed, swinging around the suppressed M7 to 'shoot' at imaginary enemies. "Take that, aliens!"

The fact that Makie had initialized enough of the helmet systems to actually be able to see out through the visor somewhat impressed Cheryl, as she had quickly learned of her ancestor's airheadedness, and where the 'Baka Pink' nickname that Evangeline occasionally used to refer to her came from. She highly doubted that Makie had managed to initialize the tracking system and synch up the integrated scope of the submachine gun with the optics of the visor, thereby bringing up the targeting reticle in the HUD.

She noticed, after a moment, that Makie's finger was straying awful close to the trigger, and asked, "Umm, you have the safety on, right?"

Makie turned toward her, unconsciously swinging the weapon in her direction. "Safety?" She turned the weapon up and looked down at its surface. "Umm, which one of these flashing things is the safety?"

Cheryl paled. "Please aim that somewhere else," she said, to which Makie looked up, also paled when she noticed the weapon's facing, and turned it to the ground. "The safety doesn't have an LED, it's a lever on the left side above the trigger housing."

The _Ala Alba_ gymnast brought the weapon close to her face and inspected the area, finally finding the safety switch. "This thing here, right? Umm, the little end is the pointer, right?" At Cheryl's nod, she continued, "It's pointing to 'AUTO.'

This made the Helljumper pale even further; her ancestor could very well have shot her! "Right, flip it forward so that it points to 'SAFE.'"

"Okay, here we go!"

Perhaps someone should have taught Makie a better way of maintaining a grip on a firearm. Perhaps Cheryl assumed that one of the previous squads of ODSTs had taught her firearm safety. Either way, as the gymnast started to twist the safety lever forward, her other hand, which had been holding the weapon by its grip, brushed her finger down onto the trigger.

The suppressed weapon let out a stuttering whisper as it released a burst of rounds aimed at the ground, a number of which shot right into the boot Makie was wearing. The pink-haired gymnast let out a scream of pain and fell back onto the ground, dropping the weapon instantly.

Cheryl immediately flopped forward out of her stretching position, groaning as the impact knocked the breath out of her and her muscles screamed in protest. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she pushed herself to her feet and ran to her ancestor's side, who was whimpering in pain as she did her best to cradle her injured limb.

Shushing the girl's repeated, tearful apologies, she partially rolled her onto her side to reach into the pack on the back of her armor. She grabbed an army green cylinder with a folding nozzle from within the pack, then unfolded the nozzle and grabbed Makie's foot with her free hand. "Okay, this is going to hurt a little, well, a lot actually, but it'll help," she said.

Makie whimpered and nodded, then did her best to remain still. Cheryl jammed the tip of the nozzle into one of the holes in the boot and squeezed the trigger on the cylinder, filling the interior of the boot with a substance that looked like caulk but acted like foam soap. Makie yelped as the substance interacted with her wound. "What is that?" she asked, eyeing the canister.

"Biofoam," Cheryl answered as she folded the nozzle back down and returned the barely-used canister to her pack. "Seals wounds, disinfects, stops blood loss. I heard this stuff even saved a guy who got a lung punctured by a brute weapon. I guess you could say it's our answer to a healing potion."

"Ohh, that's cool," Makie said. "But is it supposed to feel like I've got fire ants crawling around in my foot?"

Her descendant nodded. "Yeah, that's the downside to it. Doesn't feel too swell." She grabbed one of Makie's hands and pulled the girl to her feet. "Come on. That stuff's only temporary so we have to take you to get that treated properly. Konoka, or rather, Konoka-_san_ is your…your healer, yes?"

Makie nodded and pointed in the direction of the dorms. "Yeah, she's probably still asleep."

"Well, medical emergency," Cheryl said, standing on her injured side and looping Makie's arm over her shoulder, then gently guiding her in the indicated direction. "She'll get over it."

_Cynthia  
__Tatsumiya Shrine Inner Gardens  
__0915 hours, internal time, Day Four_

The sniper thought that she looked absolutely ridiculous. Mana Tatsumiya, the mercenary that she was, had decided not to offer instruction to Cynthia for free. In return for her teachings, Cynthia had to work for her at the shrine. Which meant wearing that stupid red _hakama_ and white _gi_ in a _miko_ outfit. Further, Mana had a tendency to call for training at completely random times, which often times meant training in the stupid _miko_ outfit.

Like now, for example. The mercenary was pacing around and lecturing as Cynthia stepped her way through the _kata_s that she had been forced to memorize over the past four days.

"Through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, and the application of the reality-altering affects of one's own _ki_ and the magical energy of the world around you, the Cleric has manipulated perception and reality to determine that the geometric distribution of antagonists in any gun battle is a statistically-predictable element."

When first she had been told she would learn this 'art of gun fighting,' she had thought it complete and utter bullshit. 'Statistically-predictable geometric distribution' of enemies in a gun fight? That completely ignored the complex and completely _un_predictable nature of terrain and cover in any given encounter, and had contended such.

"The _Arma Salto_ treats the gun as a total weapon, each fluid position representing a maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage on the maximum number of opponents while keeping the defender clear of the statistically-traditional trajectories of return fire."

She had, of course, voiced these misgivings, and Mana had literally invited her to take her best shot, under promise that, should Cynthia manage to kill her, that she'd be freed from the 'nonsense training' to go learn something more useful. Naturally, Cynthia took her up on this offer, snatching her SOCOM from where it rested nearby and emptying three clips at her. Not all at once, of course, and to the effect of wasting thirty-six rounds of ammunition. She'd then upgraded to her battle rifle, in both tri-burst and fully-automatic modes, still to the same effect.

To her chagrin, she had watched Mana perform the very same _kata_ that she was being instructed upon, and in her movements, completely avoid every bullet fired at her. Toward the end, Mana had drawn her own firearms and shot back, though her training rounds were mere chalk rounds with a minor electrical spell imbued to deter enemy combatants in a nonlethal fashion.

Still, the fact that she'd made use of this nonsense she was teaching in order to avoid incoming fire and return accurate fire told Cynthia there was something to it, something to be learned from buying into this idea of _ki_ and altering the laws of physics and perception.

"By the rote mastery of this art, your firing efficiency will rise by no less than one hundred and twenty percent. The difference of a sixty-three percent increase to lethal efficiency makes the master of the _Arma Salto_ an adversary _not_ to be taken lightly."

If it helped her kill alien bastards, so much the better.

_Chao  
__Mobile Food Cart Chao Bao Zi, Outside Mahora Academy  
__1822 hours, internal time, Day Seven_

"_News from the front!"_ the voice of Kazumi Asakura, reporter and information dominance expert of _Ala Alba_, called out from city-wide public address system. _"The cowardly forces of the Covenant, having in their great arrogance provoked us into battle, are suffering loss after loss in the battlefields of Africa!"_

Standing behind the register of the food cart, Chao looked toward the nearest broadcast pole. "So, Asakura-_san_ has taken on the role of propaganda officer-_ne_…"

"Yes, it was a natural use for her talents," Negi answered from his seat on one of the barstools attached to the tram. "Her broadcasts are really quite popular."

"_From the far-flung fields of this great campaign, reports are now reaching us of a heavy battle taking place at a second Forerunner-built ring world. The aliens are being rolled back one rock and tree at a time in a brutal, close-in campaign spearheaded by Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 and the brave and bold Helljumpers of the 7th__ Battalion. Keep fighting, Marines! And for those of you fighting men and women in the green and black here with us today, know that we here at Mahora support you one thousand percent!"_

Aside from Negi and Nodoka, a number of other patrons were present in the small seating area around Chao Bao Zi. As Kazumi ended her broadcast, all of them made expressions of agreement, ranging from raised fists to proclamations of, "Hell yeah!" and "Go, Marines!"

Coins clattered to the floor of the stall as Chao lost her grip on them while handing change to a customer. Overcome with emotion from both Kazumi's broadcast and the military-supportive atmosphere of this artificial Mahora, the Chinese genius fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, fighting valiantly to keep from openly weeping. Negi and Nodoka were over the counter immediately and embracing her, for once not filling the roles of teacher, classmate, or former enemies-turned-allies, but grandparents comforting an emotional child.

Watching this spectacle, Satsuki Yotsuba, master chef of the food stall, glanced toward the customer that Chao had been serving, who merely smiled kindly and nodded his head. "It's okay," he said as he turned to leave the group to their privacy. "Everything you guys are doing, we're behind you all the way."

Nodoka held tightly to Chao, rocking the fire mage gently. "You've held it all in for so long now, Chao-_san_," she said. "You can let it go, now. We're all finally on the same page. We're here for you."

Chao tightly clung to the arms holding her, no longer caring for God or country who saw her now as she finally let go of all the pent-up emotion she'd been storing inside her since she was a child growing up in the shadow of this Covenant invasion, now here finally able to do something about it. As her distant ancestors comforted her, she cried as she had not since the first time she had ever seen them, so many years in the past.

_Johnathan  
__St. Ursula All-Girls' High School Chapel, Outer Courtyard  
__1308 hours, internal time, Day Nine_

Even outside of his ODST armor, Johnathan was a physically-imposing figure, dwarfing his ancestor as he strolled alongside her and her _magistra_, an even-shorter girl of very few words, in the gardens outside the chapel. His biceps were as big around as some peoples' torsos, and Misora, who had once played a few of the Halo games, easily mistook him as a Spartan at first glance, which prompted him to laugh and assure her that he was 'one hundred percent Grade-A Kasuga, no genetic freak-mods applied.'

"Sorry that there wasn't more that I could teach you," Misora said. "But I just wasn't that much of a combatant. That may be why I didn't make it to the end of the Unification War."

The Helljumper looked down at the teenaged magic-based clone of his ancestor, treading carefully as he asked, "That's why there's such an age gap between some of you guys as opposed to the others, especially when you were all supposed to be classmates?"

She nodded. "And why those of us who are in their younger forms seem more like a dash-and-grab early AI program than a sophisticated magical recreation," she explained. "While those of us like Negi-_sensei_ and Honya-_chan_ had their consciousnesses imprinted into their 'magical shells' at the prime of their lives, those of us who weren't around anymore had to be reconstructed from the others' thoughts and memories."

Johnathan had nothing to say to that. What could he say, really? Seeming to pick up on this, Misora smiled easily and said, "It's not that bad. I may not have the full memory and range of emotions that the real Misora did, but I'm certain that she's found peace in the arms of God and is watching over you from Heaven."

He looked down at the rosary that he wore double-wrapped around his left wrist, that Misora had given him. Lifting his arm, he tapped the dangling cross with his right index finger and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure she is."

Misora led him to the inner meditation garden, which was currently occupied by a sole kneeling figure with his or her back turned toward them. "Since I can't do anything to help you learn how to enhance your most obvious talents, strength and stopping power, I contacted someone who could help."

The figure stood and turned toward them, revealed to be a woman wearing a vibrant red tail coat over a white bodice, with plates of armor protecting her chest, shoulders and upper arms, hands, and legs. The material of the armor superficially resembled steel, but shimmered with a faint white glow that steel was not known to produce. He automatically assumed that the armor was magically-enchanted, but he also suspected that its very nature was magical. Her long brown hair fell down her back like a flow of water, except for two comical locks of hair that hung suspended over her forehead like antennae. But, having seen some of the other Heroes of the past, that little 'problem' with disagreeable hair seemed to be more common than not.

There was also something unusual about this woman, that prompted him to stare at her cock-eyed as Misora made introductions. "Urashima-_sama_, this is my descendant that I asked for your assistance in training."

The woman nodded her head, her every motion radiating benevolence and compassion. She noted his expression, and asked, "Something bothering you?"

"You're real," he said suddenly, the words materializing before he even thought them. "You know, like, a real person, and not an impression like everyone else."

"Correct," she stated, then shrugged. "Though, it comes as a result of what I am. Angels tend to be ageless, after all."

Johnathan raised an eyebrow. Misora explained, "Urashima Naru-_sama_. A curiosity within the heavenly pantheon, to be certain. A half-celestial, born of a human father and a celestial mother, who spent most of her life unaware of her heritage and talents until she awakened just prior to the rest of the Chosen Heroes. Events conspired until she took on the role of Arbiter, zealous holy warriors 'each created and consumed in times of extraordinary crisis' that directly serve God's will in both the material plane and others."

The Helljumper now looked more skeptical than he already did. "You know, the Covenant's got one of those Arbiter things, too."

Naru rolled her eyes. "Their concept doubtless stolen from some previous encounter with an Arbiter of the one true God." Almost as an aside, she said, "I mean, it makes sense, since the aliens are also His creation, and there have been a _lot_ of Arbiters. I mean, I've been to the Mausoleum, and there's more memorials in there than I could count…"

The brunette woman waved off her random stream of thoughts and concentrated back on the conversation. "Be that as it may, the Covenant's Arbiter may come with the ancient armor and traditions of Sangheilios, but _this_ Arbiter wields the power and judgment of God at my right hand."

Johnathan nodded. He'd never been an overtly-religious man, but she did have quite an aura of power around her, power that did not come from any mortal source, so if it came right down to it, he'd put his money on her if it ever came down to a contest between her and the Covenant's Arbiter. "So, 'consumed in times of extraordinary crisis,' right? Doesn't that mean you were supposed to die doing whatever it was you had to do?"

She nodded. "I likely would have, had I not the support of my friends and comrades. But through our combined strengths, I survived the task set before me, and continue to serve in my duties as Arbiter to this day."

The big man chuckled. "Well shit…Oh, uhh, I mean… Heck, we could sure use you to fight against the Covenant."

Naru smiled helplessly. "Unfortunately, I've been bade not to take part in the war," she said. "All I am allowed to do is assist Evangeline with her training of Marines like yourself."

"Bum deal for us, then."

She shook her head, and once more smiled radiantly. "Not at all, Helljumper. As God is for humanity, who could stand against you?"

_Akio  
__Beneath the World Tree  
__0956 hours, internal time, Day Eleven_

"Stop," the white-haired woman commanded, her voice remaining level and calm through an utmost force of will. "You cannot master _Shinmeiryu_, or even grasp the rote tenants, without using _ki_. Without _ki_, what you are doing is simply nothing more than flailing about with a sword."

Sighing grumpily, Akio shoved the wooden practice sword he was using into the dirt. "Yeah, so what? What do I care about your damn traditions and this hokey sword bullshit?"

"One would think," the woman said icily, "that you would have learned what it means to cross a master of _Shinmeiryu_, fledgling, and have greater respect for the power and ability of the style, having born witness to it first-hand."

"Naw, let him be, Setsuna," said another of his instructors, an adult man with messy brown hair and sharp green eyes. Instead of the training clothing worn by the white-haired woman, he simply wore a red tee shirt and jean shorts, his ancestral _daisho_ weapons worn crossed on his back with a pair of slings that formed a black cross over his shirt. "Little bastard thinks he's hot shit without _Shinmei_, let's throw him out to the Covenant as he is, watch the brutes grease his ass in about two minutes."

The man nodded his chin to a dark-haired seven-year old girl running about wearing a child-sized set of training clothes. "Hell, even Kagami could fare better against them than that Kentucky Fried Chicken reject."

"The hell did you call me?" Akio demanded, turning to face the man.

Smirking, he ignored Akio to address the little girl. "Kagami, cover your ears and go play with Mommy. Daddy's about to say some naughty words and issue a smackdown."

Kagami looked up at her father, then giggled and nodded, covering her ears as she trotted off down the hill in the direction where her mother was training other students. As soon as she was out of earshot, the man turned back to face Akio, and his genial expression vanished. "Now, you fuckin' heard me, you sanctimonious little sack of shit. I said that you're a fuckin' reject from Kentucky Fried Chicken who thinks he's hot shit, when in reality he couldn't cut a piece of paper into the grain, much less take on the Covenant war machine that's currently trying to grind Earth into dust."

The man watched as Akio approached angrily, then jumped down from the back of the bench he was sitting on and met the Helljumper halfway, getting right in his face, nose-to-nose with the angry man. "What, you think you're something now, gettin' all up in my face? You better check your attitude and take a fuckin' seat, Susan. They say you ODSTs are crazy, right? Well, boy, you're gonna need to step it up a notch or two cos you ain't seen crazy until you've rolled with the Kuro crew for a couple years. So I suggest you get the fuck out of my face, otherwise nut the fuck up and take a swing. Go on, Tweety, give me your best shot."

And Akio did. Unfortunately for him, his anger telegraphed his move, and the man took one step to the left, allowing the swing to sail harmlessly past him. At the same time, his right hand came up, snatching Akio's wrist, while his left shoved against Akio's shoulder, turning his momentum against him and driving him to the ground, where the man then levered his knee into Akio's shoulder and twisted his arm behind him.

"Now see, little parakeet?" the man taunted. "Anger is the path to getting your sorry ass whipped. It's going to get you killed, so the time to beat it the hell out of you is now."

Reaching down with his left hand, the man hauled Akio up off the ground, and hurled him backwards, sending him flying into the trunk of the massive tree. "I don't get what your fucking problem is, kid," he said. "What, you all bent out of shape because _twenty fuckin' generations ago_ both your ancestors were chicks?" He suddenly smirked, pointed at Setsuna, and said, "Double entendre!"

"Seno-_niisan_, I know it's your nature to digress like this, but perhaps a little focus…"

The swordsman waved his agreement with her assessment. "You're right, you're absolutely right." He turned his attention back to Akio. "Point is, kid, that shit happened five hundred years ago, and it ain't no nevermind of yours. That's just love, and I could break into the whole song and dance routine, but that was like the shittiest ending theme for a Gundam series that I've ever seen."

Setsuna sighed and turned away. "And here I was expecting he'd be able to stay serious for more than a few seconds…"

"Yeah, all that shit may have happened, but it _shouldn't_ have," Akio growled, rubbing the feeling back into his shoulder. "Fuckin' around with magic and science, screwin' up the natural order of things."

"Natural order of things?" Seno laughed, then gestured to the scenery around him. "Kid, take a look around you. You're a fuckin' half-crow demon, you're talking to a glorified hologram of a guy who's been dead five hundred years, you're inside a magic-based construct that alters the flow of time. News flash. 'Natural order of things' is out the fuckin' window. If you can find the window, that is."

The swordsman raised his chin. "What, you think you had it tough because you're the only son of the Sakurazaki lineage, going to be your job to one day take over as head of _Shinmeiryu_? Tough because you've got the blood of the crow tribe and all that comes with it? Tough because way back when in history, two women who were head-over-goddamn-heels in love decided to use magic and some crazy scientific method that I _still_ don't understand to this day to have kids? Kid, all that ain't nothin' but you _making_ things tough for yourself because you sound like a friggen attention whore. You want tough?"

Seno pointed to Setsuna. "_She_ had it tough. Born to a human mother and a crow demon father in a time where they _killed_ people for doing that sort of thing. On top of that, she was born albino, which, I'm sure you're aware, is a huge bad omen in the tribe. They would have been right by their law to kill her at birth because of her albinism. Her father abandoned her, and her mother died before she was two. She was taken in by the _Shinmeiryu_, which you are most certainly aware is dedicated to _slaying_ demons. Aside from me and Motoko and Tsuruko, nobody there liked her. They only tolerated her because Tsuruko adopted her into the family."

In her younger days, Setsuna would have withered under the memory of her early years, the hardships she had endured. But as she had aged, she had become stronger, mentally and physically, and came to regard those memories as the shaping blocks they had been. Though the original Setsuna was long gone, this magic clone possessed every facet of her personality, and swelled with pride as Seno's clone recounted the formative years of her life.

"She got her first assignment from _Shinmeiryu_ at five years old, to be the bodyguard of the Konoe family heiress, with whom I am sure you're familiar. You've spent enough time in her care recently." Seno was referring, of course, to the numerous training sessions Akio had undergone, most of which resulted in him smarting off to one of his trainers, which resulted in severe beatings that required Konoka's healing talents. "Long story short, that wasn't the pleasure trip it sounded like it should have been. She was always the one catching hell whenever Konoka so much as sniffled, and it was mostly those damn housemaids' fault that Setsuna had the worst damn inferiority complex you'd ever seen until she was well into her twenties."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, real touchin' story," Akio scoffed, standing up and dusting himself off. "I know all about the _entire fucking life story_ of both of 'em, cos I've had that shit crammed down my throat since I was old enough to remember two words strung together."

"So what? You hate 'em cos you feel like you've got some family legacy to live up to?" Seno shook his head. "Grow a fuckin' pair, kid. Stop with the 'woe is me, my family is so fucked up' bullshit act, get your head on straight, and learn this shit so you can go out there and grease the fucking Covenant. Jesus, you act like the whole world is going to come crashing down if you don't live up to some imaginary expectations that _no one_ has set for you."

"Daddy!" the voice of Kagami called out, prompting Seno to turn and look as she charged back up the hill at him, arms flung wide, followed by her mother at a more casual pace. With her long black hair and appearance of classical Japanese beauty, it was obvious where Kagami got most of her looks from.

As Seno bent down to catch his running daughter and lift her up onto his shoulders, Motoko called out, "What my husband is so verbosely attempting to impart is that there is nothing 'wrong' about your family line, because there is love there. Further, you have a unique opportunity to do good for this universe, if you would but take your head out of your ass and apply yourself as your comrades have."

"Mommy said a bad word!" Kagami exclaimed, giggling.

Motoko smiled at her daughter. "It seems I have. I'll have to put money into the bad word bank when we return home."

Balancing his daughter on his hip, Seno turned to regard Akio seriously. "Bottom line, kid. Take a look over there on top of the academy." He jerked his chin toward the girls' academy that Setsuna had once attended. "Your 'Baka Pink' is up there every day, or somewhere else in the city, contorting her body in ways it was never meant to be contorted, in the interest of honing her ability to kill Covenant."

Picking up the thread, Motoko pointed to the all-girls' high school. "And there, Kasuga-_san_ trains daily under Naru-_sempai_'s tutelage, enduring more pain than most human beings could survive in order to toughen himself against the coming battles."

"Even Rivale-_san_," Setsuna stepped in, "has seriously applied herself to the _Arma Salto_ training that Mana-_san_ is giving her."

"But all you do all day is make a fuss about not liking your family," little Kagami added, glaring at Akio, though her age and relative cuteness ruined the malignity of her expression. "All those guys are doing their best to get stronger so they can save the world."

"Whereas you waste precious time refusing to learn that which should be second nature to you," Motoko said, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead. "You feel as though your ancestors have disgraced you with what they have done so long ago, but what they have done is over and gone. You disgrace your ancestors in every waking moment with your selfishness."

_Johnathan  
__Mahora University Intramural Stadium  
__1118 hours, internal time, Day Fifteen_

"Okay, so I've got a question," Johnathan commented out of the blue.

His teacher, clad in a black gothic dress styled for combat movement and carrying a sword longer than she was tall, nodded, watching the Helljumper intently with her heterochromatic eyes. "Go for it."

"How are you and that Negi guy related again?"

Beside him, Alysia stood up out of her stance and regarded him as though he'd just grown a second head. Evangeline, Ku Fei, and several patrons of the Chao Bao Zi that had been parked nearby all facepalmed. "Have you been hanging out with Makie?" Cynthia asked from one of the stools.

"No, serious. It's been bugging me since we started the _kankahou_ training."

Asuna Kagurazaka, or by her birth name, Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia, shrugged and twirled her oversized sword casually around her right hand, then stabbed it into the ground. "I thought we went over this, but Negi's my nephew by way of his mother, Arika Entheofushia, being my sister, the second princess of Ostia."

"And of course, Kagurazaka is known better in the magic world by her title, the Imperial Princess of Twilight," Evangeline commented, "for her unique ability to nullify magic, and the part that talent played in almost destroying the magic world."

"But that's a tale for another time," Asuna said, then pointed to her two students. "Alright, power yourselves up again! I want a two hundred percent increase in power over the last one! And don't give me any crap about it being too hard! I had to learn to use _kankahou_ or freeze to death in Eva-_chan_'s hell training!"

"She's certainly spirited," Cynthia commented as she watched the training in progress.

Behind the counter, Chao grinned. "That's one way of describing Asuna-_san_."

_Cheryl  
__St. Ursula All-Girls' High School Chapel, Meditation Gardens  
__1215 hours, internal time, Day Twenty_

"…_Marine forces and civilian resistance groups are inflicting such heavy casualties on the invaders that the weak and spineless Covenant have been forced to deploy more cruisers and their forces in order to maintain their tedious grip on our homeworld. With each passing day, kills against the enemy force continue to mount, and like the ancient Greco-Persian Wars, soon the destruction we are wreaking will have cost the enemy all taste for battle!"_

"Asakura-_san_ is certainly enthusiastic about her job," Cheryl mused as she applied a field splint to Johnathan's arm which, once again, had been hurt in his training with Naru. At least this time it hadn't been completely severed by one of her attacks, saved only by Konoka's prodigious healing skills. "She makes it sound like we're actually winning this war."

"Well, it's not like she's lying," Johnathan responded. "She's just spinning the facts. Take, for example, her saying that the Covenant is having to deploy more ships to keep up with the losses. While I'm sure we are hammering them something good, the grain of truth within her statement is that they're moving more ships here."

"Which still bodes badly for us," Cheryl sighed. "Even the _CCS_-class battlecruisers carry thousands of enemy troops. Even with the help of civilian resistance groups, the sheer numbers game…"

"Hey, chin up, trooper!" a female voice called out. The two Helljumpers looked toward its source, and were surprised to see another black-armored ODST standing before them. It wasn't until they spotted the Mahora emblem on the chest plate of the trooper did they realize it was one of the Heroes of old, Yuuna Akashi. She pulled off her helmet and balanced it on her left knee. "Even if they bring millions, once you guys are done here, you'll each be worth an entire battlecruiser's compliment, and there's like two thousand or better of you guys. Magic's a friggen force multiplier like you wouldn't believe!"

"But none of us are actually mages like you are, Akashi-_san_," Cheryl said.

Yuuna waved her armored hand before her face. "Knock off the formality stuff, would ya? That's always bugged me. Just make it Yuuna. And the force multiplier of being an actual mage would make each of you worth like five or six cruisers. And considering I've seen about a hundred or so mage potentiates in your entire spec ops division…"

"We get the picture," Johnathan chuckled, gesturing with his uninjured hand. He took in Yuuna's armored form, which was identical down to the minutest detail to their own armor. "So, Yuuna Akashi, the original Helljumper. Pretty strange to think that our gear nowadays is essentially the exact same as the stuff you guys originally developed five hundred years ago."

"Yeah, that is kinda weird," Cheryl agreed. "You'd think the technology would've changed and there'd be at least some _visual_ differences."

"Well, other than the fact that I've heard about some squads that run around with fingerless gloves and helmets that don't seal all the way to the bodysuit," Yuuna said. "What the hell is up with that mess, anyway? ODST armor's meant to function in a vacuum, which _totally_ isn't going to happen with fingerless gloves." She pointed to the full-fingered black gloves Cheryl was wearing. "I'm just glad to see you guys don't wear that stupid stuff. You'd have no problems at all getting launched into space!"

"…That totally didn't answer the question," Cheryl deadpanned.

"Yuuna is like that," another voice responded, as a distractingly-cute woman Yuuna's age, with shoulder-length brown hair and wide, alert hazel eyes, joined the conversation. "She's so easily distracted it's hard to square that with the squad's combat record, sometimes."

"Nn, shut up, Hotaru!" Yuuna protested. "That unsealed kit is absolutely retarded no matter how you look at it!" She thumped her chest plate with her fist. "This kit that I've got, and these guys got, will totally protect them from the Flood. Puncture-proof and everything. But that unsealed stuff is just asking for Flood ODSTs."

Both Johnathan and Cheryl shivered at the mention of the Flood. They'd read the reports of Installation 04, after all. "Please, let's not bring that up," the big man said. He used his free hand to knock on the tree trunk he was leaning against. "God forbid, we won't ever have to deal with the Flood here."

At this, Yuuna and Hotaru immediately exchanged glances that greatly troubled the two ODSTs. "Uhh, yeah, yeah, let's hope not…" Yuuna muttered.

"Why does that give me the worst feeling in the long history of bad feelings?" Cheryl asked.

"You too, huh?" Johnathan chimed in.

Sighing, Yuuna ran a hand through her hair, then set her helmet on the ground and flopped into a seated position. "Okay guys, just… Look, you know about those _Halo_ games back from my time? How they're so uncannily similar to the history of the way things are going?"

The two Helljumpers nodded, and this time it was they who exchanged glances. It had been disturbing, to say the least, when this series of games had been described to them, particularly the complete history of the Human-Covenant War that they seemed to be.

"Well, right now, we're in between _Halo 2_ and _Halo 3_. Like, Recon happened about two weeks ago."

"Which one was Recon?" Cheryl asked.

"She means ODST," Hotaru explained. "Yuuna still refuses to call it by anything but its original release name." She turned to the original Helljumper and held up a hand just as the girl started to open her mouth. "Please save your justification for another time. I'm sure they'd love to hear it, but there's more important matters."

Yuuna shot Hotaru a dirty look, then nodded and continued, "Right, well, like I said. According to research, Master Chief is due to return in like… What day is it in the real world?"

Johnathan looked at his watch. "November fifth."

"Right, so Master Chief should be back in like a week. Along with a ton more Covenant ships and a Forerunner dreadnaught that ship-based MACs can't even scratch."

"That's really comforting," Johnathan deadpanned.

Yuuna shrugged. "Well, they don't do anything but land it in that big hole they're digging to activate the portal to the Ark. 'Course, that's where the problem comes in. There's going to be a mission to retake Voi to punch a hole in the anti-air defenses and attack the dreadnaught. Like I said, ship-based MACs plus _Longsword_ bombing runs don't do dick."

"Wait, you didn't say anything about _Longsword_s a second ago," Cheryl frowned.

"I forgot." Yuuna shrugged helplessly. "So, the Covenant activate the portal and take off to the Ark. Here comes the mondo bad news. A Flood-infected ship crashes into Voi. Luckily, a fleet of Elites shows up in time to glass the area to prevent a global infestation, but let's just say you guys don't want to be anywhere near the Mombasa/Voi area when you start hearing about operations in Voi."

Both Helljumpers looked as though they were going to be sick. Hotaru held up a hand to forestall any advanced conclusions. "The reason why we had games based upon your reality, our future, so many years ago is because the knowledge of events up to the First Battle of Earth was brought back with Chao-_san_ when she first came back in time. The _Yochi no Kouken_ of the time decided it would be a good idea to disseminate that information into a video game form so that the Chosen Heroes could have access to it. That's why _Halo _Wars, Halo 1, and the beginning of _Halo 2_ have played out as verbatim recordings of what you have experienced. The ending of _Halo 2_ as well as the entirety of _Halo 3_ was likely crafted by Bungie in order to finish the games."

"But when you stop and think about it," Yuuna mused, one finger stuck into her mouth, "the news from the frontlines that Kazumi has been giving out seems to stick pretty well to what we know of _Halo 2_, and even Recon was totally accurate."

Hotaru sighed quietly and facepalmed. "Yuuna, you just completely undermined my attempts to reassure them that nothing was set in stone."

"Uhh, well, look on the bright side? At least the Elites join forces with us!"

_Chao  
__Hidden Laboratory, Mahora University Engineering Section  
__1836 hours, internal time, Day Twenty-Eight_

"It's actually here-_ne_…" the fire mage mused as she wandered through the lab in which she'd essentially built her efforts at revealing magic to the world, which she had codenamed Operation: VALID. "Eva had said that it was a perfect reproduction of Mahora, but this…"

"What, didn't think I didn't know about your little private lair?" a voice asked from the darkness.

Chao spun to find Evangeline, in her true form, sitting on top of one of the supercomputer towers. The daylight-walker was twirling a data disk between her fingers idly. "Of course I knew this place existed," Evangeline continued. "All evil mages have to have a hideaway. Though, you never really fit the bill of an evil mage."

"That's a strong case of the pot calling the kettle black-_yo_," Chao countered. "You didn't quite fit the archetype either. But then, we're just old relics, you and I."

"Relics?" Evangeline scoffed and tossed the data disk carelessly behind her, listening for it to shatter against something before she continued, "You're still just a kid, Lingshen."

"Huh, maybe." She reached up to tap the pentagon shape sewn into the battle armor on her left arm, brushing her fingers over the twin lightning bolt design in the center. "All of us were kids, really-_ne_…"

Lowering her hand, she sat down at her old workstation and brought the terminal online, seeing what all she could access. She thumbed through reams of data files concerning her units and their performance, then paused as she came across the remote access screen from which she could order mass-production of her units. She tapped her fingers on the empty portions of the desk, musing.

"You can't build an army," Evangeline said, knowing immediately what she was thinking. "That would require resources that do not exist here. This place is built by magic, and it requires more than mere magic to construct your droids."

"That's too bad-_yo_," the fire mage said, but arbitrarily keyed in a production order for several hundred mixed units, simply for nostalgia's sake.

_November 5, 2552  
__Abandoned Production Facility, Location Unknown, The Real World  
__1322 hours, local time_

For over five hundred years, the factory had lain dormant, used one time to produce an army for the sake of a noble goal and then forgotten. Though long-abandoned, automated maintenance units placed within the factory at its creation had kept it clean and prepared to once again spring to life and fulfill the purpose for which it was built.

Just as with other places occupied by the Covenant, it had been discovered and attempts had been made to plumb its secrets. However, not even the floating Forerunner constructs, the Engineers, had been able to crack the security systems preventing access to the secrets of the facility. So, in frustration, the Covenant had simply stored much of their equipment and vehicles within the open space.

In the deep darkness within the heart of the facility, two independent systems activated, one in reaction to the other. The first, a simple computer terminal, flashed online, displaying in muted green, 'Production Sequence Initiated.'

The second system was far more complex than the first, possessing a voice, memory units, free will, and most importantly, a physical form. Eye-like visual sensors opened in the darkness, glaring green into the depths of the factory. A masculine voice, unused for over five hundred years, proclaimed but one word: "Master."


	7. Farthest Outpost

**A/N:** Hah, I managed to complete a chapter and deliver it before having to leave for basic training, as I'd hoped. Unfortunately, my laziness prevented me from completing the second chapter that I was working on simultaneous to be released in a two-pack prior to my leaving. At least I finished the one that was made of meaty substance, as I had started working on this one, then realized how cheap it was to skip so many months, and started then doing that second one, which remains unfinished. Not to worry, it shall now be a flashback after this chapter, consisting of a late entry to the annual "Project Arashi Christmas Special." So now, starting from tomorrow, 22-November, I shall be gone for approximately eight and a half weeks of basic training, following which I'll come out an E-3 in the USAF.

What, you were expecting me to go Marines? They ain't got Helljumpers yet, so no Marines for me. So, based upon the theory that I'll have a week or so of leave after basic before I ship off for AIT, and then during intermittent periods of AIT, I'll be able to return to work on Project: Arashi. Fear not, my friends, the epic climax of _The Unsung War_ begins in no more than two chapters. Unfortunately, however, because of the laziness of Hiroyuki's actor, I couldn't get the completed chapter 22 of Kuro Arashi complete for you guys. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to wait those eight and a half weeks for a piece that is 99% complete. Sucks, don't it?

But I digress. You've come here to read ODST badassery, not listen to me prattle on. With the requisite disclaimer of _Mahou Sensei Negima!_ and all affiliated material being owned by Ken Akamatsu, and all original material being owned by Project: Arashi, get in there, troopers!  


* * *

**Farthest Outpost**

_The Squad  
__Beneath the World Tree  
__0703 hours, internal time, Day One Hundred and Forty_

A small crowd had gathered to watch what would likely be the last day of the squad's combined training in _kenpo_ by Ku Fei. In the dim glow of the pre-dawn light, the squad's ancestors stood aside and watched as the five Helljumpers moved in perfect synchronization along with their instructor as they flowed through the _kata_s. The squad had come a long way during their long months' training, absorbing everything that could be taught to them from both their direct ancestors and others with useful talents to impart.

It wasn't until their exercises had ended that the squad realized a crowd had gathered, consisting of not only their ancestors, but all of the Heroes of old, and many citizens of the magical recreation of Mahora as well. After officially dismissing the training session, Ku Fei retreated back into the gathered crowd. The air all but buzzed with anticipation.

From the gathering, Evangeline stepped forward, in her older form and also her service dress uniform, which clued in the Helljumpers that some official function was about to take place. Clad as they were in PT clothing, they arranged themselves into a line and awaited the words of their commanding officer.

"Squad Three-Bravo-Six, for the past one hundred and forty days you have endured training that would have broken lesser men," she said, her voice carrying in the still air, heard by everyone present. "You have learned all that has been available here for you to learn, and you have grown both as individuals and as a team. You entered this place as mundane soldiers of the United Earth Space Corps, and today, you are invited to take your place amongst the Heroes of old. Today, we extend to you the invitation to join the ranks of the Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade."

As she spoke, Ku Fei, Makie, Misora, Mana, and Setsuna stepped out of the gathered crowd, each holding the torso plates and right shoulder pads of their descendants' armor, the armor pieces cleaned and polished to almost factory-new state, the shoulder pads now bearing the seal of Mahora.

"Those of you who would accept this accolade, with all accompanying privileges and responsibilities, take one step forward."

In unison, the five Helljumpers each took that one step forward.

Evangeline smiled faintly, then nodded to the squad's ancestors, who then moved forward to present the refurbished armor to the ODSTs. "Then receive your newly-commissioned armor, representative of your new status as Mage Knights of Mahora. Aside from the emblem of your new positions, your armor has been magically-enhanced to reduce damage from enemy weapons. Don't, however, thing you can stand in the path of a Scarab beam or even a Wraith mortar and still survive."

Chuckles ran through the assembled gathering at that, before Evangeline continued, "In recognition of your direct lineage to the _Ala Alba_ of days long gone, former students of Class 3-A, and in accordance with my authority as commanding officer of the Third Marine Special Operations Division, I hereby redesignate your unit as Three-Alpha-Six, the core of a new _Ala Alba_. In the footsteps of your ancestors, you will soon go forth to protect this world we cherish from a great calamity. May the gods have mercy on the souls of your enemies, for you are forbidden to."

There were no better closing words than that, and the gathered crowd burst into cheers and applause for the five Helljumpers, the final graduates of Evangeline's mage training. Kazumi Asakura stepped forward and turned to address the crowd, ever-present in her role as propaganda distributor. "Let's hear it for Squad Three-Alpha-Six!" she cried into her microphone, eliciting an ever-louder roar from the crowd. She turned to face west, dramatically stabbing her finger toward the direction of the Covenant invasion forces. "To all you alien bastards out there, don't cry when these guys blow up all your little toys!"

Apart from the celebrations, Chao stood closer to the trunk of the World Tree, smiling as she watched Kazumi begin running interviews with the ODSTs. Evangeline turned and approached the fire mage, summoning her black cloak about her as she moved. "So, what do you think, Chao Lingshen? Is magic showing itself to be the answer to the Covenant you thought it was?"

"Time and battle will tell-_yo_," she answered, crossing her arms. "But since I've been here, I've felt one thing I hadn't felt since I was a child and first discovered the secret of magic."

Evangeline waited, silent, though she knew exactly what her former classmate was going to say.

"Hope," Chao whispered on a breath. "With the strength of their backs and the courage of their hearts, I feel as though we have a chance-_ne_."

"I imagine you're going to join them on the battlefield."

The Chinese genius nodded. "Five hundred years ago I led an army to change history to allow this hope to be born. It would be rather rude of me to leave my work half-finished-_yo_."

Evangeline smiled cruelly. "Then the Covenant will break upon the combined might of the human spirit and the talent of the mages. From this day forth, they shall look upon our power and despair."

"So, what happens now?"

"They face their final test."

Chao glanced sideways at the vampire. "Final test. You mean _that_ operation?"

"Yes. Give them no details other than what I tell them, otherwise it will invalidate the entire thing."

"I understand."

---

_The Squad  
__Vertiel Am See Plaza, Museum of Humanity  
__1322 hours, internal time, Day One Hundred and Forty-One_

"…most definitely one of the biggest thorns in my side-_ne_," Chao said as she and the squad wandered the halls of the museum that had been established on the site of the command post at 'Defense Point Echo' during her attempt to reveal magic to the world, which had since become known as Mages vs. Mars. As they were now members of the Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade, Evangeline had thought it prudent that they learn the history of the brigade, including its very formation, where Chao herself had been the brigade's first foe.

Over five hundred years prior, in the year 2007, Chao had unleashed an army of droids to capture six crucial magically-charged areas around the World Tree in order to take advantage of a 22-year peak in the World Tree's magic cycle to cast a spell of Forced Recognition, thereby forcing the mundane world to acknowledge the existence of magic. Her ancestor, Negi, had created a counter to her plan by drafting a 'simulation battle' and recruiting the services of close to three thousand students, armed with construct-disabling weapons and supplemented by approximately two thousand more cosplay 'Marines' of a club called Fireteam Charlie, armed with live firearms and trained in simulation airsoft. This combined force created the original core of the Mahora Mage Knights, which expanded over the years to encompass nearly thirty thousand members at its height.

The key to the student defense force having any hope at all, both Chao and Negi had explained, was due to the fact that Chao had specifically programmed her droids not to use lethal force, being fully aware of the repercussions that killing someone in the past could have on the future. Over the course of two hours, a long and grueling battle for the future of the world was fought, resulting in no small amount of property damage. In the end, Negi had defeated Chao in a one-on-one battle, and she altered the contents of the spell at the last minute, changing it from a spell of Forced Recognition to a spell that removed all hatred and sadness from the world for one day.

"But why did you change the spell's effect?" Cheryl had asked. "If your ultimate goal was to make magic common knowledge in order to benefit us now against the Covenant, what good would a day with no hatred or sadness do?"

"I did it as a parting gift to my friends that opened my eyes-_ne_," Chao had answered. "I can't put it into words, but as I watched these students fight against my army, fight in what they considered to be just a simple game-_yo_, I was confronted with the truth of human nature, that truth being that we have an indomitable will to survive. It's…hard to explain in words-_ne_. It would make more sense if you had been there."

"You guys should watch the documentary Sayo-_chan_ recorded for me of Yuuna-_san_'s squad," Kazumi, who was along to help Chao tell the story, had said. "It really showcases the grit and determination of the Mage Knights. At the end there, there were only about a thousand total guys left to fight the remaining eight or nine thousand of Chao-_san_'s robots. It's a good inspirational watch."

Johnathan chuckled. "Hey, sounds good. I might just have to take a look at it. What's it called?"

The red-haired propaganda officer grinned up at the big man. "Ready for this one? I named it '_We Are ODST_.' Since, you know, Yuuna-_san_ and her team were the first ODSTs."

"I like that, that's pretty badass," Johnathan said, giving the young woman a thumbs up.

Chao led the group before the centerpiece of the museum, a hand-built, 1/100 scale diorama of the final rout of the Echo defenders. The diorama showcased, better than any written numbers could, the scale of just how outnumbered they had been; perhaps two hundred figures in the green armor of the defenders swamped in a sea of thousands of the black-armored, identical robot foes.

"This, moment-_ne_, more than any other, clearly spoke to me of that human determination, that outnumbered more than five-to-one, these students continued to fight, knowing that their defense point was lost," Chao said.

The Helljumpers were suitably impressed with the scale and level of detail of the diorama. Her face pressed against the glass covering, Cheryl asked, "So is this like an artist interpretation?"

Kazumi grinned and shook her head. "Nope, that's what that moment in time actually looked like," she said. "The model makers used still images recorded on-site by the state-of-the-art, super-futuristic holographic recorders provided by Chao-_san_."

"Common technology nowadays-_ne_…"

Cynthia seemed more interested in a nearby video display that detailed the 'hammerspace' system employed by many of the special forces and leadership personnel of Fireteam Charlie, granting them effectively-unlimited ammunition. "Hammerspace?" she asked.

"Ah, yes," Chao said. "I'm actually rather surprised-_yo_, that the Arlington Magic Society had developed with magic a device that could do the same thing I used current UNSC technology to produce." To emphasize her point, Chao raised her right hand, and suddenly a half-dozen flying laser weapons flashed into existence behind her, hovering silently. "Of course, I use my hammerspace as more of a storage unit-_ne_, whereas the AMS weaponized it into ammunition magazines. I could probably create an analogue-_ne_, it would just take me a few days."

"Good," Cynthia nodded. "Having to reload after only four shots is a pain."

"What are those things?" Akio asked, pointing to the funnel-like weapons, intrigued by new technology.

"Self-propelled Galilean nonlinear rifles," Chao answered matter-of-factly.

This provoked a double-take from Johnathan. "Wait, you're telling me _those_ things are Spartan lasers? Those little-bitty things?"

Chao grinned. "Didn't you know-_ne_? I invented the Spartan laser."

If the world were an anime or manga, Kazumi figured that the five Helljumpers would've been face-down on the floor following that little revelation. Akio was the first to recover from his shock. "Are you fuckin' shittin' me? _You_ invented the Spartan laser?"

The Chinese genius nodded, then raised her hand to tick off points. "And the technology to shunt excess energy from the firing of one MAC round into the charging process of the next round, which allows for multiple shots from a MAC on a single charge, like you see on _Halcyon_- and _Marathon_-class cruisers. And a fully-functional reverse-engineering of the Covenant's active camouflage and personnel anti-gravity systems. The Cassiopeia series of time machines, a line of ammunition that can take advantage of the things I learned making the Cassiopeia to teleport people three hours into the future…"

"Which was a total pain in the rear at Mages vs. Mars," Kazumi cut in.

Chao grinned and took a mock bow. "Now that you mention it-_ne_, the original artificial intelligence on which all current 'smart' AIs are based, about a dozen different types of combat robot frames, an anti-infantry redesign of the Covenant's Locust, and an anti-Scarab walker."

For several long moments, the squad was dead silent following that list of accomplishments on Chao's part. Again, Akio was the first to speak, "Fuck, the colonel wasn't joking around when she said you were a genius."

"It's too bad we don't have any of those anti-Scarabs of yours," Johnathan said. "Especially if they can really kill a Scarab."

Chao shrugged. "Well, I naturally never got to test them against a Scarab, but according to the available information on the Type-47 Ultra-Heavy Assault Platform, my computer simulations indicated that the M2TA Komodo could, in fact, kill a Scarab-_yo_." She shrugged carelessly. "But then, a Scorpion can also kill a Scarab, given a talented crew. It all comes down to the human element-_yo_."

"Truer words were never heard by me!" said a new voice.

The squad turned to find an individual with short, red hair just as tall as Johnathan, though not as broad or muscled, with his back turned to them, staring at a mannequin dressed in the actual battle gear that Colonel Lorenzo Ruiz, commander of Fireteam Charlie, had worn during the battle against Chao's army. He wore a light tan set of clothing similar in cut to a military day uniform, with the Mahora emblem on his left shoulder and the insignia of the Third Marine Special Operations Division on his right. The outfit was not any sort of UNSC uniform, as made obvious by the fact that he carried an M6C/SOCOM in a genuine holster worn low on his right hip. He further despoiled the military appearance by wearing the long sleeves of the shirt rolled up, with fingerless red gloves on his hands.

Kazumi seemed to recognize him. "Hey, Chiu-_kun_, where've you been hiding for so long?"

"Oi, oi, come on now, Paparazzi-_kun_, don't go insulting my great ancestor Chiu-_sama_ by calling me by her name," the man said, turning to face the group. He sauntered past the squad and stepped up to Kazumi, making a show of kissing her hand in a gentlemanly manner. "Ah, if only you weren't a magical projection, Paparazzi-_kun_."

Kazumi blushed, but seemed used to this treatment. "Well, hey, I'm sure if you asked nicely, Chao-_san_ over there might make a robot for you…"

"Hakase _did_ show me the incredible advances she made on the human replica aspect of Chachamaru's design-_ne_…" the Chinese genius mused.

"A mere robot, even of the most advanced human replica, could not do you justice, Paparazzi-_kun_," the man said, then turned to face the ODSTs. "So! You guys are my new squad, eh? Name's Murakami. Chihiro Murakami. Descended from the great Heroes Chiu-Chiu Hasegawa-_sama_ and Hiroyuki Murakami-_sama_."

"This guy's supposed to be our medic?" Akio scowled.

Chihiro looked at him. "Medic? No, no, Yuri-_chan_, I'm the Covenant tech expert."

Akio glared at the newcomer. "What did you call me?"

Johnathan rolled his eyes. "Shit, just when we thought he was over it." He laid a restraining hand on his friend. "Easy there, Ryuu, he's the rookie. I'm sure he doesn't know enough about us to-"

"_Au contraire_, Spartan-_chan_," Chihiro interrupted, wagging a finger at the equally-tall man. "I've done my research on my new squad, and I know pretty much all there is to know about you guys and your ancestors."

"Great, so he's just doing it to be annoying." Akio's scowl deepened. "FNG…"

"Glad to have established such a rapport with you, Yuri-_chan_," Chihiro said, grinning infuriatingly.

Akio grit his teeth, but said and did nothing, testament to the training he had received from his ancestors, most of which could easily be called temperament training.

"Well, this is great," Cynthia said sourly. "If the Covenant don't kill us, we'll do it to ourselves."

Chihiro turned his attention to her. "It doesn't have to be like that, Ice Queen-_kun_. Or rather, Cynthia Rivale, rumored to be the very reincarnation of Mana Tatsumiya herself. You most certainly have the right personality and skills for it to be true. I guess we'll let the Covenant see first-hand, eh?"

Unlike Akio, Cynthia was not so easily baited. She simply stared back at the newcomer unblinkingly.

"Corporal Murakami," Alysia intervened. "It is corporal, isn't it?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead continuing, "We have a very finely-balanced team dynamic in our squad. I think it'd be best for all of us if you didn't rock the boat."

"Is that an order, Sergeant Major-_kun_?"

Instead of stamping down on the blatant questioning of her authority, Alysia simply smiled serenely, and allowed Chihiro a moment to recall exactly who it was she was descended from. "It can be, if you need me to make it one."

Even knowing that Alysia was descended from the great martial arts master Ku Fei, sharing both her appearance and level of skill, if not her intellect--or the lack thereof--Chihiro wasn't intimidated. "That won't be necessary, Sergeant Major-_kun_," he said, dusting the sleeves of his shirt. "I was just diving headfirst into that team dynamic and pushing at the boundaries. In all seriousness, I'm honored to be fighting alongside fellow descendants of the great Heroes. On the honor of my ancestors, I, Murakami Chihiro, will not let Three-Alpha-Six down."

Alysia was more or less expecting it was something like that. Every new person in a squad always tried to do something memorable to establish their place in it, after all. "I'm glad. And the annoying nicknames?"

"Sorry, Sergeant Major-_kun_, you guys are stuck with those."

"Well, I guess we can live with that."

"That still leaves us with the problem of not having a squad medic," Cheryl pointed out. She had mostly been performing any treatment of minor injuries during the team's training, and even before, but it was generally a good idea to have a separate medic who was not _also_ your primary pilot.

"Oh, right, about that," Chihiro said, looking off at the ceiling and tapping his chin to indicate he was thinking hard about something. "That vampire chibi said something about having that last guy who's going to join the team finish his training today, and that she'd send somebody to come get us when it's all done."

"Maybe we oughta wait outside, then," Johnathan suggested.

Cheryl tapped her chin with one finger. "I wonder if they sell copies of that documentary in the gift shop here," she mused.

"Nope, you get those from the World Tree museum," Kazumi answered, then looked at her watch. "Oh, I gotta get going. Almost time for my daily report."

"Ooh, what's the news today?" Cheryl asked excitedly. She always made sure to make time for Kazumi's propaganda broadcasts, despite knowing that most of the information she gave was cast in a certain light for morale purposes. She had always been known in her home community on Luna for her patriotism in supporting the UNSC, and she always got a rush from listening to broadcasts like Kazumi's.

The red-haired reporter grinned and winked, then shook her head. "Sorry, that'd be telling. You'll just have to listen in!" She looked at her watch one more time, then waved to the squad and headed for one of the side exits. "See you guys later on!"

The squad moved out to the front entrance of the Museum of Humanity, and just as they exited, a Warthog troop transport driven by Sean Hartley, one of Yuuna's ODSTs, pulled up along the street. "Hey, great timing," he said. "Evangeline sent me to come get you guys to go meet up with your last new guy." He nodded toward Chihiro. "I see you found the other one."

"Want him back?" Akio asked as he climbed into the back of the vehicle and sat down in the seat nearest the driver.

"No, thanks, he's all yours." Hartley pulled himself back into the driver's seat and the engine rumbled to life. "Pile in and I'll take you guys over to where Evangeline's waiting on you."

Thus began the same tradition that always comes to pass whenever there is to be vehicle travel and a large number of people: the battle for passenger seat. Cynthia didn't care, Akio was already seated, but the rest were engaged in battle. "Shotgun!" Chao and Alysia called simultaneously, followed by a "Fuck," from Cheryl.

Johnathan grinned, and while the distant cousins were exchanging glares, called out, "Blitz!"

At this, both Chao and Alysia looked confused, but Cheryl evidently understood as she gave Johnathan an evaluating gaze. He grinned back at her, then took off running toward the Warthog. Knowing that he was faster than her, she concentrated for a moment, focusing her latent magic energy to her feet, and shot across the distance that separated her from the vehicle in an instant. Her control was a bit less than perfect, however, and she tripped down the incline and smacked into the side of the Warthog just before Johnathan reached it.

"Oh, nice _shundo_!" Chao praised. "That was almost a void instant movement-_ne_."

"That's cheating!" Johnathan argued.

"Why?" Cynthia asked, climbing up to sit in the rear-facing seat in the troop bed. "We all can do it, and she's even the worst of us at it."

"She got to the 'Hog first," Hartley said, shrugging. "Shotgun's hers."

Happily, Cheryl climbed up into the passenger seat as the rest of the squad and Chao piled into the back. As Hartley started to drive, Cheryl leaned forward and adjusted the gain on the built-in radio, setting it to the station that Kazumi broadcasted her reports on. She turned up the volume so her squadmates in the back could hear over the engine and the wind, then settled in just as the broadcast began.

"_How's everybody doing out there today?"_ Kazumi's voice boomed from the speakers. _"Even if you were having a crappy day before, it's just gotten a whole lot better. Today's news from the front is nothing but excellent news! Word has reached us from our fighting men and women in the far reaches of space that our forces have prevented the Covenant from activating Installation 05, the newly-discovered Halo ring that would've wiped us all out just as much as the first one failed to. Unfortunately, a powerful Flood outbreak on the ring world has claimed the UNSC_ In Amber Clad_ and many of the Marines and crew aboard the frigate, but against these impossible odds, the remaining forces have prevailed!"_

"Now _that's_ what I'm fuckin' talkin' about," Akio said, grinning. "Goddamn aliens ain't got shit on us."

"They were probably too busy fighting the Flood to worry about our guys," Johnathan pointed out, which was a likely scenario.

Chao and Hartley, however, knew the truth. They said nothing, waiting for the announcement they knew was coming.

"_Okay, now before I let this juicy news go, my sponsors say I've got to make sure everybody's sitting down so they don't pass out or anything. Hey! My buddies in 3/A-6! You guys aren't driving or anything, are you? No? Here we go! It seems that there's been some sort of incident within the Covenant, prompting a civil war between the Elites on one side, and the Brutes and Prophets on the other. In fact, a substantial force of Elite special forces were part of the group that included our very own Marines in stopping the enemy from activating Halo."_

Stunned silence filled the Warthog at the dropping of that bombshell. Akio was the first to speak. "Holy fuck. The Elites left the Covenant?"

"Got kicked out on their asses, more like," Johnathan said. He looked toward Alysia. "What's that mean for us, Sar-Maj?"

The Chinese woman shrugged helplessly, one arm looped over one of the braces of the roll cage. "Honestly, I don't know. It could mean anything, but it's encouraging that those Elites helped out our Marines on Halo."

"_Don't get too cozy yet, Marines,"_ Kazumi continued. _"This comes down directly from Eva-_chan_, or rather, Colonel McDowell, that the temporary alliance between the UNSC and the Elites hasn't taken hold in all sectors, and not all of the Elites know that we're on the same side now. So for the time being, it's best to just avoid Elites if you run into them in the field. You'll be able to get more information direct from the colonel._

"_In other news, remaining UNSC sensor outposts in space have picked up an incoming contact of unknown classification at the edge of the Sol System, moving toward…"_ Kazumi cut off suddenly, the radio station going silent, prompting confused looks between the squad. Then, just as suddenly, her voice returned, _"Communications from the orbital defense platform _Cairo_ have confirmed that Master Chief is aboard the unknown ship, for the purpose of, quote, 'Finishing this fight!'"_

None of the Helljumpers found that news brief very impressive. "So, who here is also of the opinion that we could 'finish this fight' all on our own without the help of Mister Roboto?" Chihiro asked, raising his hand. One-by-one, the other ODSTs also raised their hands.

"Bastard can go dance with the angels," Akio answered. The rest of the squad made noises of agreement.

Amongst ODSTs, the phrase 'dance with the angels' is considered a curse, as it implies that the one to do the dancing suffered a pod failure, and died either on impact or while still in freefall.

Even Hartley, who was of a breed of ODSTs before the advent of that phrase, understood its meaning. "Nah, let Chief be. Give all the dances to those Brutes."

"Heh, now you're talkin'," Chihiro said.

By now, Hartley had driven the squad back to the hilltop on which they had entered into the resort, where Evangeline and Naru waited. As they piled out, Evangeline said, "There's been a slight change of plan. Originally, I had intended to have you complete your training and then perform a simulated combat against Covenant forces here in Mahora, but as you heard from Asakura's broadcasts, there's a new alliance with the Sangheili in the works. As my command is a part of the UNSC and yet apart from it, Lord Hood has tasked me to take a Sangheili delegation to a neutral third party location in order to affect the terms and signing of an official treaty. You're coming along."

Alysia nodded her understanding of the new orders. "We'll pick up our Class A's on the way up."

"Where exactly can we take these Elites that can be considered a neutral location?" Cynthia asked. "Every known location in the galaxy either belongs to us or belongs to them. Mostly them."

Evangeline smiled darkly. "The one place that the Covenant would not ever be able to find or destroy, no matter how long or how hard they looked. You've all heard much about this place since you've been in training here, and the entire reason to bring you along is so that you can see it for yourselves."

Chao knew immediately to what Evangeline referred. "_Mundus Magicus_."

---

_November 10, 2552  
__Bridge, UNSC _Yamato_, Above the Plane of the Sol System, Deep Space  
__0918 hours, ship's time_

In any other ship bearing a UNSC insignia, one would not find a colonel sitting in the commanding officer's chair while the fleet admiral in command of the entire human defense force stood beside. But no other ship was the carrier _UNSC Yamato_, the mobile base of Evangeline's special operations division, and her personal starship.

Evangeline impatiently drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair as she watched the unchanging vista of stars and blackness out the forward viewports of the _Yamato_. Several light-years below them, below their field of vision, their home system continued to turn, burning in the hands of the Covenant. To her left, Naru stood silently, staring out at the stars with a thousand-yard stare that Evangeline had previously seen when she was communing with the Heavens, or just thinking really hard. Lord Hood stood on her right, occasionally looking over at the display of ship's time on a nearby wall.

"So, they're supposed to meet us out here in a stealth corvette," Evangeline began, "which we cannot detect by sensors or visually, meaning this entire thing could be an elaborate trap aimed at cutting off the head of the human defense and the most potent weapon humanity has in its arsenal?"

"It _could_ very well be an elaborate trap, but would I be incorrect in assuming you do not have measures prepared to continue the war in our absence should we be killed out here?" Hood countered.

Evangeline smiled. The old man knew her well. "Then I suppose we'll have to trust these aliens who, until just a few days ago, were more than happy to cut our throats as we slept." She glanced once more at the screen, then turned her chair to face Hood directly. "While we're waiting, perhaps we can discuss what things will change following the conclusion of this war, assuming we survive."

Hood likewise turned in to face her, nodding. "Certainly, a good number of things will have to change."

"Foremost among them being ONI's censorship of magic," Evangeline said scathingly. "Many of the Marines under my command are more fighters than mages, but the few who have enough magic power to be true casters have been taught that their job in the field is heavy artillery, and they've had the most powerful mages in history teaching them. There will be no discretion in my Marines' use of their supernatural talents when the time comes to take the fight to the Covenant. I've trained and prepared them to make use of every weapon at their disposal, damned be any mundanes that happen to see them."

"I expected no less, Colonel, and have no desire for your men to favor discretion over victory," Hood answered. "In fact, the flashier and more dramatic their assaults against the enemy are, the better. Shock and awe."

Evangeline smiled cruelly. "Completely eradicate one group of aliens in a very public manner, and others will be discouraged from facing you in combat. I'll make that a standing order. Regardless, when this war ends, I expect ONI will attempt to make a move against us. You've read my reports on their witch-hunters, and you've seen yourself what they do when they get their hands on our people."

Hood nodded, thinking about the young Chinese weapons technician, Chao, who had been forcibly branded with magic-sealing sigils so that ONI could make use of her intelligence to build new weapons and technologies without having to fear her supernatural powers. It was a testament to Chao's own knowledge and determination that she had managed to reverse the sigils' effects without ONI being any the wiser.

"The Insurrection will look like a retirement home squabble over tapioca pudding compared to what will happen if ONI comes after the magic society," Evangeline warned. "I am not without my own sources of intelligence, and should I even get a hint of ONI trying to take us out, I'll strike first, strike hard, and strike _once_. Because you and I are old friends, Admiral, I'm giving you this one warning: Stay out of the way. It would be an annoyance to have to kill you."

It was no idle threat, but he was long used to such comments due to having known the ageless daywalker for most of his life. "Let me assure you, Evangeline, that if a civil war between mages and mundanes, are we called? Should such an event take place, and were I a younger or more fit man, I'd take up a rifle and stand beside your people, myself."

The naval crewman on the sensors turned in his seat. "Colonel, we're picking up an unknown energy reading directly ahead, distance twenty thousand kilometers. It doesn't match up with anything I've ever seen before, but if I had to guess? It seems a little similar to the Covenant active camouflage system."

As if on cue, out the forward viewport, space at the noted distance suddenly warped and twisted, the visual cue of active camouflage, and a _CCS_-class battlecruiser suddenly appeared there. The bridge crew and Lord Hood were shocked by the appearance of the massive ship. "I was told we'd be met by a stealth corvette," Hood said. "Since when could they put active camouflage on anything that size?"

"Covenant cruiser is hailing us, Colonel," the communications officer reported.

"Audio," Evangeline ordered.

The bridge speakers crackled with static, then filled with unintelligible guttural sounds, before the translation program finally kicked in, _"Hail, humans, and take heed! This is the cruiser _Pious Inquisitor_. We have arrived as promised to forge an alliance between our peoples."_

Evangeline glanced toward the communications officer, who nodded to indicate a channel was open. "_Pious Inquisitor_, this is the UNSC _Yamato_, Colonel Evangeline McDowell commanding. Orient your vessel alongside ours and prepare a transition to slipspace when I signal, and we will arrive at our destination shortly."

"_And what coordinates shall we set into our navigation databases?"_

"Any that lie upon a straight line from the direction of our heading. All will be made clear shortly."

There was a long silence on the part of the Covenant cruiser, before it slowly began moving to take up the assigned position alongside the _Yamato_. _"Very well, then. A most unusual travel plan, but these are most unusual times we find ourselves in. We shall await your signal to transition into slipspace."_

As the cruiser moved into position, Evangeline turned to the navigation officer. "Spool up the FTL drives and commence converting reactor power to necessary mana to generate the transition portal. We'll be able to rely on the _Pious Inquisitor_'s slipspace wake to pull us along through the portal."

"FTL drives spooling up."

"Reactor converter is online, siphoning power to commence portal generation. Portal will open in thirty seconds."

Space before the two capital ships once more warped and twisted, forming gigantic, multi-colored magic circles in a five-layered stack, with the closest and farthest circles barely wide enough to permit the passage of the two ships, growing in size toward the center, with the third circle spanning hundreds of miles of space.

"Attract inhibitor is active, stabilizing the gateway."

"_What Brute sorcery is this!?"_ the crew of the _Pious Inquisitor_ shouted in alarm. _"Angle the shields and prepare the energy projector! Humans, take shelter behind our shield sphere!"_

"No!" Evangeline answered. "This is supposed to happen. Those circles form the foundation of a portal that will take us to our destination, which exists in a plane parallel to our own. Unfortunately, generating this portal drains our reactors of energy, so we will need to ride your slipspace wake to enter the portal ourselves."

Their contact aboard the _Inquisitor_ was understandably confused. _"What purpose is it to hold this meeting in slipspace? We were to discuss this alliance in a neutral location."_

"Think of where we're going as an alternate dimension like slipspace, but stable and normal, where all the rules of physics and reality apply, like our own," Evangeline explained. "Where slipspace is likened to crumpling a piece of parchment to allow rapid travel from point to point, this alternate plane is a second piece of parchment laid atop our own, always separate except when joined by gateways like the one we've created."

"Gateway stabilized. We can depart at any time."

"_Ah, I see,"_ the _Inquisitor_ responded, though whether they truly understood was questionable. _"Very well, then. We are to aim for the center of these structures, then?"_

"Yes. Engage your slipspace when ready, and we shall see you on the other side." She muted the transmission, then broadcast over the ship's intercom, "All hands, brace for unpowered slipspace transition."

At the head of the _Pious Inquisitor_, a white rupture formed in space as energy cascaded over the hull of the ship, blossoming into a parabolic arc that grew nearly to the width of the central magic circle. The _Yamato_ rocked as it was drawn toward the slipspace rupture by the gravity of the Covenant cruiser.

---

_Mess Hall, UNSC_ Yamato  
_The Same Time_

"_All hands, brace for unpowered slipspace transition."_

The six Helljumpers of 3/A-6 largely ignored the announcement, clustered around one of the tables as they were, with legs locked either around the supports of the table or beneath the benches they sat on. "So tell us about this _Mundus Magicus_, Chao-_san_," Cheryl said.

"Well, keep in mind that I've never actually been there-_ne_," the Chinese genius began, palming a _nikuman_ pork bun, none too surprised that there were such ethnic foods on Evangeline's ship. "But in essence, it's an alternate dimension to our own plane of reality that's created and sustained by magic. In the old days, when Negi-_bozu_ and the original _Ala Alba_ traveled there, there was but the one world, the original _Mundus Magicus_, that was an alternate version of Mars. Now, though, with the advent of interstellar travel, the term _Mundus Magicus_ is now applied to the realm as a whole-_ne_, and there are many colonized worlds there."

"So, when you told the people of the 21st century that you were from Mars, you meant the magic world?" Alysia asked.

Chao shook her head. "No, Mars really is my home planet-_ne_," she answered, then took a bite of the pork bun, savoring the flavor. Just like back in Mahora. "My family ran the Misriah Armory factory there. It's how I got my start in weapons design-_yo_." She swallowed, then tapped her finger against the remainder of the bun in her hand. "Of course, after Negi-_bozu_ figured out that the magic world was a parallel reality to Mars, they all assumed that when I told them I came from Mars, that I meant that world."

"You're not really qualified to tell us what it's like there then, huh?" Akio asked.

"I can tell you what I know of it from having spoken to _Ala Alba_ after they returned from _Mundus Magicus_, during the years I spent with them before returning to this time." Leaning forward on one elbow, Chao broke open one of the untouched pork buns and started arranging its contents almost haphazardly on her plate. As she worked, the lights in the mess hall went out, replaced by emergency lighting, and the ship began to vibrate heavily, a sign that they were progressing through the slipspace rupture.

Unperturbed, Chao continued what she was doing, until eventually she had produced an almost-accurate map of the magic world. "There are four major continents," she began, pointing to each one in sequence. First she touched the large continent that took up nearly the entirety of the northern hemisphere. "The continent of Argire, where the major power centers of the Hellas Empire, Ariadne, New Ostia, and Megalo-Messembria are located." She moved her hand to the easternmost continent, which was connected to Argire. "Tempe Terra is a very arid region-_ne_, with only scattered outpost towns and the towns of Tempe, Tantalus, and Phoenicus. Olympus Mons can also be found in this region."

"Considering that there's an Olympus Mons both there and on the real Mars, those old _Ala Alba_ guys were pretty dumb not to draw the immediate connection to Mars," Chihiro said, barely paying attention since he was already well informed on the magic world. "Then again, the only person they had with them who really knew anything about astronomy was Natsumi-_obachan_, and even she didn't realize it until she saw a map of _Mundus Magicus_ and noted the resemblance to the surface of Mars."

Chao nodded, and moved her hand to the west of Argire. "Southwest of Ariadne is the Elysium continent, with a climate ranging from subtropical to tropical. The southernmost continent is unnamed, though it's known amongst the locals as the Wild Regions. Untamed, with only two settlements, the wildest and most dangerous magical beasts are found there-_ne_."

The ship suddenly lurched forward as it tumbled out of slipspace, rattling the plates and cutlery on the tables, tossing unsecured items through the air, and heavily rocking the seated ODSTs. Once the ship stabilized, Chao stood up from her bench and walked to a nearby viewport, through which a shining blue sphere in the darkness of space could be seen approaching. "And there she is-_ne_," she said. "_Mundus Magicus_, or as they call it now, _Terras Magicus_."

The rest of the squad moved to gather around her and take in the view as well, the darkness of the mess hall creating the perfect theater from which to view the world. Unlike Earth, space around this planet was pristine in its natural form, no rings of Super-MAC platforms surrounding the planet, or spires of orbital elevators rising up from the surface. As they viewed, the Covenant battlecruiser _Pious Inquisitor_ cruised into view, projecting its aesthetically-curving hull across the upper hemisphere of the planet. Despite being an imposing symbol of everything they considered to be enemy, the purple-blue hull of the cruiser only added to the scene they were viewing.

"It's so pretty…" Cheryl remarked.

"The one safe bastion-_ne_," Chao said. "Even if Earth falls and every human being in the galaxy is killed, _Mundus Magicus_ will remain safe, and the human species will continue to exist, protected by dint of the Covenant being unable to reproduce the magic necessary to slip sideways into this dimension-_yo_."

"Good," Johnathan said, nodding as he crossed his arms. "If a place like this remains permanently safe from the Covenant, it makes my job a little easier, to know that somewhere out there, there'll be some people that those alien bastards won't be able to get to."

The primary lightning of the mess hall flashed back on, and the omnipresent thrum of the ship's sublight engines vibrated the deck beneath their feet once more as the carrier turned, moving closer toward the planet in order to take up an orbital position. Evangeline's voice sounded over the ship's intercom, _"Three-Alpha-Six, report to the flight deck."_

"That's our cue," Akio said, tugging uncomfortably at the sleeves of his dress uniform. "Let's go get this shit over with, huh?"

Nodding, Alysia turned and led the way out of the mess hall.

---

_Pelican Dropship Hotel-192, Descending from Orbit over Ariadne, _Terras Magicus  
_1426 hours, local time_

There was just enough room inside the troop bay of the Pelican for everyone to have their own seat. As the ship dropped low enough into the atmosphere to sustain internal atmospheric pressure, the pilot opened the rear doors to allow the ODSTs inside to look out over the panoramic spectacle that was the city of Ariadne spreading out below them. The primary architectural style appeared to be that of the European Renaissance period, but with a much higher density of buildings, approximately six or seven times denser than Tokyo even during the 21st century.

But what grabbed the Marines' attention the most were the things that were very clearly out of place in what they would consider a normal cityscape. Everywhere they looked, the sky was filled with flight, ranging from individuals riding brooms to mechanical aircraft that resembled fish. Directly below them, they passed a bridge that was suspended in midair, its supports stopping suddenly hundreds of feet off the ground.

Akio shook his head. "That's some view."

"Enjoy it while you can, Marines," Evangeline said. "As soon as we land, we're on official business."

Cheryl, however, noticed something else. "Uh oh, hey, we got company!"

She pointed out the rear of the Pelican, where they could see four figures in ornate armor bearing lances swiftly approach them riding brooms. Behind them, two aircraft that vaguely resembled goldfish, but bristling with visible weaponry, also began to pursue them.

"Valkyries," Evangeline said, referring to the broom-riders. "The elite of Ariadne's magical defense corps. There are probably twenty of them surrounding us."

A voice boomed within the troop bay of the Pelican, likely magically-amplified, _"Unidentified ships, you are trespassing on the sovereign airspace of Ariadne. Identify yourselves and state your purpose immediately."_

Without getting up from her seat, Evangeline answered, "This is Pelican dropship Hotel-One-Nine-Two of the UNSC _Yamato_, command carrier of the Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade, Evangeline McDowell commanding. We are here with a delegation from the Sangheili race seeking a neutral location in which to sign a treaty of alliance between our peoples." The squad assumed that she was using magic to communicate as well, only speaking aloud for their benefit. The Elites in their Phantom could probably hear everything as well.

"_You will return to your vessels immediately and depart this dimension. There is no war on _Terras Magicus_, and we will not have it brought along with you."_

From the cockpit, the pilot called out, "What should I do, ma'am?"

"Maintain your course," the vampire told the pilot, then frowned and glared out the rear of the bay toward the pursuing Valkyries. "Let me speak to the Headmaster of the academy."

The Pelican shook violently as a magic blast from one of the Valkyries on the side of the dropship exploded before the ship's nose. Expectantly, the pilot was getting panicky. "Colonel!"

"_You will deviate from your course back to your ship or we will destroy both your transports."_

Cynthia had long since pulled down a sniper rifle from an overhead rack and sighted down one of the four pursuing them. Noticing this, Chihiro teased, "Think you can get all four of 'em before they duck out of range?"

"Yep," the sniper answered calmly. She called back to Evangeline, "Colonel? Shall I show them that our warning shots don't miss?"

"Fire only if we're fired upon," Evangeline answered.

Before she could respond to the Valkyries, the four to the rear and the two gunships suddenly peeled away, and the one that had spoken previously said, _"Pelican Hotel-One-Nine-Two, you're cleared to land on Platform 12. The Headmaster will meet you there."_

"Strangely convenient…" Johnathan murmured.

Two of the Valkyries flew ahead of the newcomers to guide them toward the landing platform. The Pelican and the Phantom, two dropships normally never seen within sight of one another without trying to shoot each other out of the sky, banked to follow the flying mages.

The platform to which they were led was large enough to support both transports with plenty of room to spare. The Pelican deployed its landing struts and settled to the platform, whereas the Phantom remained hovering in the air, motionless. As the squad, Evangeline, Naru, and Lord Hood exited the Pelican, they looked toward the Phantom to see its bay doors deploying. In a show of nonhostility, the two plasma cannon turrets on either side of the Phantom were not manned.

From the sides of the Phantom, half a dozen Elites wearing the orange armor and attachment pieces of the honor guards leapt to the ground, followed by an Elite wearing armor that looked far more ceremonial than it did useful, and another Elite in silver-white armor. Curiously, to the surprise of the Marine personnel, the last two figures to jump down from the Phantom were also humans, one a dark-skinned man wearing a soft cover hat, and the other a woman wearing a naval officer's uniform.

"Commander, Sergeant Major," Hood said to them. "Pleased to see you two made it off that Halo alive."

Sergeant Major Avery Johnson pulled a cigar out from a pouch in his armor and tucked it into the corner of his mouth, then stepped forward and saluted the admiral. "It wasn't easy, but we got the job done, and most of us made it out alive."

"Fine work," Hood said. He looked toward Evangeline and her Helljumpers. "This is Colonel McDowell, she runs one of our ODST divisions. You may be working with them in the near future."

Of course, as he was bringing attention to them, Chihiro and Akio just happened to be ruining their professional image by whispering back and forth to each other and pointing between Naru and the ceremonially-armored Elite. Sighing, Evangeline added, "Yes, they're perennial screwups." But she likewise looked between her old comrade and the Elite that she knew from the lore of olden days to be the Arbiter, and couldn't help but smirk herself at the thought of Arbiter meeting Arbiter.

"Colonel," Cynthia said, nodding toward the walkway leading away from the landing platform.

Evangeline, as well as the others, turned to see approaching them a squad of armored Valkyrie knights, led by a woman clad in a dark suit that lent her the look of a professional hitman, or rather, a mob boss. The Valkyries varied in height, likely in species as well, and each bore a lance the equal in size of the Elite honor guards' lances. The woman exuded a quiet aura of power, one that only the Heroes and ODSTs could sense. As the group stopped at the edge of the platform, the woman carefully regarded all of the figures present. The slight breeze present in the city billowed her long, light brown hair out to her right. With a start, Alysia realized that she had seen this woman before.

"Welcome to the Independent Academic City-State of Ariadne, honored representatives of the Sangheili people and the United Nations Space Command," the woman said. "I am Grandmaster Nealla Zu, overseer of this institution. My knights have informed me that you are seeking a neutral location in which to formalize an agreement of alliance. There is no more fitting place than here in Ariadne."

_And so we find that yet another of the old Heroes is still among the living,_ Alysia thought to herself as she silently watched the formal dialogue between her commander and the official of Ariadne. _But she's human, so how can she still be alive after five hundred years? Mages have longer life spans, but not this long…_

Evangeline sketched a short bow to Nealla, who returned it, then turned partially to her left and gestured back toward the building they had come from. The Valkyries parted ranks. "Come, I shall prepare the central auditorium for this event," Nealla said, before turning to lead the delegations into the academy. "I think that, perhaps, there should also be delegations from Megalo-Messembria, the Hellas Empire, and New Ostia as well, to ensure that all in _Terras Magicus_ recognize the alliance that shall be forged today."

---

_Central Auditorium, Ariadne Institution of Magic and Might  
__1506 hours, local time_

The auditorium was built like an ancient gladiatorial amphitheater, and despite the concessions toward comfort such as the enclosed roof, carpeted floors, and comfortable stadium seating, the impression that the auditorium could also be used for a duel to the death could not be shaken. In the very center of the auditorium, on a raised dias, the headmaster stood behind a podium, in front of which was placed a table with chairs for the human delegation, and magically-created equivalents to the comfort of the Sangheili. The delegation of orange-armored honor guards stood in a ring around the platform, interspersed by the six ODSTs of Three-Alpha-Six, all bearing MA5C assault rifles at parade ground rest.

Surreptitiously, Cheryl glanced around the auditorium that was within her immediate field of vision, finding it packed to capacity. Most wore the uniforms that she had come to recognize as belonging to the students of the Ariadne Magic Academy. From what she had heard from Evangeline and Chao, as well as Yue Ayase, who had once been a student at Ariadne, knowledge for the sake of knowledge was the mantra at Ariadne, and these students present had no emotional stake in what was about to take place, wishing only to be present for what they knew to be an incredibly historic occasion.

Otherwise present were two separate groups of primarily-human figures, and one that consisted largely of what Cheryl ostensibly identified as 'beastmen,' humanoids who had obviously-animal qualities, to include draconids, tigermen, cat-people, and bird-folk. Though there were 'beastmen' present in the other two groups, they were not so concentrated as they were in that third group.

From behind and above her, the headmaster, Hero of the old age, spoke, her voice amplified for all to hear, "Students of Ariadne Academy of Might and Magic, honored representatives of the Megalo-Messembrian Senate, Theocratic Assembly of Ostia, and Hellas Empire, we are gathered in this hallowed hall to witness and mediate an alliance that shall have far-reaching consequences on the Old World, and even this one as well."

Nealla gestured to the ceremonially-armored Arbiter, and the white-armored Shipmaster alongside him, whose left mandibles were severed in half by a past injury. "The delegation of the Sangheili civilization, represented by Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum and the Arbiter."

At this, the ceremonially-armored alien raised one four-fingered hand. "My apologies for the interruption, Honored Speaker," he began in easily-understood, if accented due to facial structure, English, "but I feel it prudent to specify that my appointment as Arbiter of the Covenant came at the hands of the vile, distrustful San'Shyuum, and that my people no longer accord any weight to their proclamations, I hitherto renounce the name and position of Arbiter, and resume the name Thel 'Vadam to which I was born."

Inclining her head, Nealla responded, "We are all the more enlightened for this well-received knowledge, that when this moment is recorded in the history of our respective worlds, all proper credit shall be given to those it is due." She then turned to gesture at the humans, seated on her left. "And representing the Human delegation, Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood and Colonel Evangeline Anasthasia Katerina McDowell."

Murmurs ran through the assembled crowd at the dropping of Evangeline's name, and Cheryl had to resist the urge to smirk. _Even more than five hundred years after her Heel Face Turn, Evangeline still inspires terror in the mage communities._

Nealla placed an item in the center of the table, a small statue of an eagle in flight, its outstretched wings each supporting a balance scale. Greek words encircled the base of the statue. "This magic artifact, _Ennomos Aetosfragis_, shall record the events of this armistice, requiring no formal signatures but for the stated conditions of alliance, and shall be formally binding until such time as the resolution of the current state of war in the Old World allows for a more in-depth contract to be forged." She then stepped back and motioned to both sides. "Gentlebeings, by your leave."

Thel was the first to take his feet, his right hand forming into a fist which he then crossed over his chest. "As duly-appointed representative of my species, I submit that over the course of this conflict, initiated and perpetuated by lying charlatans in the name of false gods, a great many atrocities were inflicted upon your worlds and people by mine, that such atrocities can be neither redacted nor glossed with platitudes. For those despicable actions which we have committed, the only recourse is penance, a penance that may never be earned, but a penance that we will nonetheless serve by taking up arms alongside your species."

Lord Hood stood up, his face the impassive stone mask of any drill sergeant worth his salt. "I can't forgive any of you for what your kind has done to mine, but there was never any doubt in my mind of the skill and proud warrior ethos your people possess. As commanding officer of the United Nations Space Command Home Fleet, I welcome and accept the assistance your people can provide to stop the Covenant from killing us all, and likewise pledge mankind's forces in mutual defense of this solemn pact."

In a show of good faith, Lord Hood extended his hand across the table, directly over the _Ennomos Aetosfragis_. Thel, unaccustomed with human gestures but familiar with the concept of grasping hands to pull a wounded comrade to safety, met Lord Hood's offer, his four-fingered hand engulfing the naval officer's. Polite applause from the gathered crowd broke the silence as the artifact in the center of the table faintly glowed with a white color, cementing the contract that had just been formed across all members of both species.

Cheryl shifted slightly in place as she recognized that the slight discomfort she had previously felt being flanked by Sangheili honor guards on either side had disappeared, even though she intuitively knew that it was the magic of the artifact, which would in any other circumstances been illegal, knocking down the barriers between the two species in order to ensure that the contract would be followed to the letter.

Seated in the first row in the audience, Chao leaned back and crossed her arms, watching numerous free-floating recording devices snapping commemorative photographs of this historic event. She briefly thought back over five hundred years, to a secret laboratory from which she had constructed her plan to reveal magic to the world, recalling her efforts to convince Kazumi to join her cause, efforts that had required her revealing the bleak future that awaited humanity. _You can rest easy now, Asakura,_ Chao thought. _Operation: VALID may not have had a direct impact on this, but I can say with certainty that it did influence this, and that it would not have been possible without your help._

Cheryl, the most empathically-attentive of the squad, watched as a form of relief flickered across Chao's features. To the Chinese genius, this had to be a sort of affirmation, a nod from the universe that her efforts so long ago in Earth's history had not been in vain. _You did your part to equip us as best we could to survive this war, Chao-_san_,_ she thought. _Even though I know you're not going to back down from the fighting to come, I hope you'll allow us to handle things from here._

Her eyes lost focus as she thought back to several months ago, at least from her perspective, to the time in Evangeline's resort when the illusory Mahora had been celebrating Christmas, as it had been the one time she had ever seen Chao truly relaxed, without the worry of the war hanging over her head like an oppressive cloud…

* * *

**A/N:** For everyone who ever wondered why we went from humans and Elites wanting to rip each others' heads off and shit down their throats to complete buddy-buddy action without _any_ "blue-on-blue" problems, now you know why... The Magnificent Crossover Bastard strikes again, explaining yet another piece of ambiguous canon in the bounds of his crazy crossovers!


	8. Brothers in Arms

**A/N:** Before we begin this week, I'd like to announce that internet explorer is a motherfucking piece of shit. It has taken me no less than fifteen attempts to properly format this document.

I'd also like to issue a statement. Mr. Akamatsu, you are truly a magnificent bastard with chapter 281. You read all the associated material with Project: Arashi, don't you? Otherwise how else would you have managed to pull out _that _particular item that Chao could have only constructed so superbly from a Halo background. You see, I went out of my way to avoid having Chao invent things like that which were obviously Game-Breaker, but now with that release of chapter 281, my hands have been unshackled. I now have free reign to come up with and use the most batshit insane things imaginable, so long as I can make it feasible. I thank you, but the fanfiction community and the Covenant in the forthcoming chapter(s) will not.

Also, not one day after discovering 281, bungie released their Reach multiplayer trailer, which upped the anti of shenanigans in such a blatant manner that it could only have been a challenge. I have responded, as detailed in this chapter. You see, Akamatsu challenging us is lulzy, for if he steals from Project: Arashi, that means our awesome shit would be in Negima. But bungie's challenges are taken very seriously, and we shall up the ante To Eleven.

* * *

_**Brothers in Arms**_

_November 11, 2552  
__Ariadne Institution of Might and Magic, Independent City-State of Ariadne, _Terras Magicus  
_1836 hours, local time_

The Sangheili, Alysia mused, did not look at all out of place amongst the other denizens of the realm so colloquially known as the 'magic world.' Amongst the multiple species of cat-people, bird-folk, tigermen, and the like, the reptilian aliens looked as natural on the streets of Ariadne as did any true citizen of the world. Even the varying-colored armor of the Sangheili did not stand out amongst the ornate and often-times fantastical garb worn by the delegations from the four primary power centers of the world still wandering the city, to say nothing of the city's natives.

Standing at a window overlooking the bustling dock area of the city, Alysia observed life going on as normal in Ariadne, not two hours following the formation of the Human-Sangheili Alliance. Initially, there were some communication difficulties owing to the fact that the denizens of _Terras Magicus_ did not possess the UNSC-issued language interface systems that would allow them to understand the Sangheili language, but it didn't take long for a judicious use of the _Tongues_ and _Permanence_ spells to fix that problem.

And now, the two-meter Sangheili mingled amongst the natives of this world as though they were, themselves, natives. Not only were the larger aliens out, but also the smaller Unggoy, of those that had joined the Sangheili in breaking away from the Covenant, were also exploring this new world. Alysia had even spotted a single Mgalekgolo pair passing through the docks a few minutes previous. She watched as a blue-armored Sangheili paused at a visitor information stall to watch a promotional video concerning the upcoming Ala Alba Victory Cup gladiator matches, after which the alien seemed to be pondering, tapping its digits against the inactive energy sword hilt at its hip.

The Chinese Helljumper smirked at this. Seemed as though the gladiatorial circuits this year were going to pick up some new blood, literally and figuratively.

The mage-marines of the Third Marine Special Operations Division, or the new breed of Mahora Mage Knights as they liked to call themselves, were also out and about the city of Ariadne, but they blended in far better than their newfound allies, as very few wore their battle armor. Some wore the fatigues that went under the bodysuit and plates, but most wore whatever they felt like, and were impossible to pick out from the other human natives. Of course, the ODSTs that were walking around chatting with the aliens that had been their sworn enemies just days earlier were easy to pick out, and there were more groups of them than not. If it weren't for the effects of the _Ennomos Aetosfragis_, Alysia would scarcely believe that the scene before her would be possible; there was a _reason_ that artifact was illegal, after all, given the potential for what less-than-scrupulous contracts could be compelled unwillingly.

She turned away from the window and strode back toward the center of the room, which was one of the grandmaster's meeting rooms. Around the central table were gathered the leading representatives of pretty much every major power currently in either world. Lord Hood and Evangeline of the UNSC, Thel 'Vadam and Rtas 'Vadum of the Sangheili, and alongside Nealla as Grandmaster of Ariadne, three other figures were also present. Alysia knew of every single one of them: the Governor-General of the Theocratic Assembly of Ostia, an ageless celestial whose only given name was Stromric, who claimed that his Heaven-decreed task had been service as Yuuna Akashi's guardian angel. Typically, he performed this task by constantly one-upping every one of her action hero moments, which he claimed was done with the intent to push her into bettering herself. While it was true that she _did_ improve her skills at an incredible rate in order to beat him, there were probably better ways of going about it.

The representative of Megalo-Messembria, Assembly-Speaker of the Megalo-Messembrian Senate, just so happened to be the also-ageless Marid _djinn_ Faizel Zu, paladin-warrior of the former Chosen Heroes of _Kuro Arashi_. He'd long since abandoned his false name and assassin's ways during the events of the crisis for which the Heroes had gathered.

Lastly, the Dragon Empress of the Hellas Empire was none other than her cousin's very own former classmate, Zazie Rainyday, who was not ageless, but rather a silver dragon, a species that was naturally long-lived enough to have been a teenager, at least in human terms, in 2007 and still be considered young five hundred years later. Gone was the teardrop makeup beneath her left eye, but she now no longer bothered to hide the fact that she was not human by allowing scaled-down versions of her horns to be visible in her human form.

There was obviously a lull going on in the meeting at the moment, as the otherwise-all-business Stromric wouldn't have been hitting on Zazie otherwise. At least this time there weren't gratuitously-large bouquets of almost-extinct flowers found only in the most vicious parts of the Wild Regions involved. And this back-and-forth game had been going on for _five hundred years_. Alysia thought briefly of Cynthia, whose patience had been glowingly commented upon before, but to put up with being hit on for five hundred years, Zazie had to be _made_ of the stuff.

Without batting an eye, the dragon empress turned her attention to Evangeline. "We have almost completed the transfer of the requested material to your ship," she said. "It's been quite a few years since you've been here, and we've improved a number of the weapons that you'll be receiving. We also have nearly completed repurposing the weapons and equipment salvaged from the fortress world before it fell. Would you wish that loaded as well?"

Evangeline glanced briefly toward Thel and Rtas, but if either of them knew what 'fortress world' to which Zazie referred, they did not indicate it. She refocused on Zazie. "No, hold onto those for now. There's still the endgame to consider."

"We shall do our part as well," Thel pledged, looking from one individual seated at the table to the next. "The last communication we had with our brothers at what you have called 'Delta Halo' indicates that one ship claimed by the Parasite has slipped the blockade, and our entire fleet now pursues it on its course toward Earth. Rtas and I shall rejoin our brothers in combating the parasite, and we shall leave the _Pious Inquisitor_ and its compliment in your hands."

The portable holotank placed by Evangeline lit up, displaying the holographic avatar of Chachamaru. "According to my calculations based on the assumption of the Forerunner vessel's speed, with relevant data drawn from continued observation from the Io remote sensor outpost, the Forerunner vessel will arrive at Earth in approximately seven days. Judging by the known speed of Covenant _CCS_-class battlecruisers, if the infected ship departed from Delta Halo within twenty-three standard hours of the initial outbreak, then it should arrive at Earth the day after the Forerunner ship. This, of course, assumes that the vessel has sustained no damage to its slipstream engines."

"Then that's how long we have to ready a defense," Lord Hood murmured. He looked toward the hologram. "You know for certain that this Flood ship is coming to Earth?"

Without missing a beat, Chachamaru blatantly lied, "No, I have no means of predicting where the ship is going. I simply offered a timeframe based upon the _assumption_ that its target destination is Earth."

Evangeline kept her face impassive; after over a thousand years of life, it wasn't a difficult task. She said, "We know that the Covenant are intent on uncovering the Ark in Africa. Admiral, you should make your stand there. Leave the East Asian campaign to myself and my Mage Knights."

The wizened old admiral nodded slowly. "Very well, I highly doubt that that campaign will be beyond your abilities to handle. I'll take the ships I have left and hold out until Master Chief gets back."

"I shall go as well to the fighting in Africa," Thel said, looking toward Lord Hood. "This Ark is the goal of the Covenant, and where they have a goal, there shall the Liar be found."

Something akin to a smirk on his alien features, Rtas reached out and grasped the other alien's shoulder. "Perhaps consider taking him alive, my Brother," the shipmaster said. "The Liar's public execution is an event that _all_ of our brothers should have the honor of witnessing."

"I can make no promises," Thel answered.

---

_Ariadne City Streets, Dock Area  
__1843 hours, local time_

Akio circled slowly, warily to his left, the long blade of _Yuunagi_ held in a ready stance before him. A cocky half-smirk was fixed on his face, his eyes watching the hips and shoulders of his adversary, the two places where his enemy's moves would be telegraphed. His own giveaway points were locked in steady movement, revealing nothing but his continual sideways motion as he circled, his hands gripped tightly over the hilt bindings.

It was impossible to read the expression of the Sangheili circling opposite him, energy sword humming in the alien's right hand. The alien's face was completely concealed behind the helmet that matched the assault harness it wore, painted the color of the Covenant's Ghosts and Banshees. Having introduced himself as Usze 'Taham, the alien had then immediately proceeded to challenge the _Shinmeiryu_ warrior. Knowing of the inherent honor within the Sangheili species, Akio had shrugged and conceded.

That had been ten minutes ago, and the two had spent the proceeding time circling warily, each looking for an opening in the other's iron defense. In all that time, neither presented any form of weakness. Predictably, a crowd had gathered in response to the looming fight, and true to form of the denizens of the magic world, bets were being made on who would win the fight. Curiously, most of the betting was not on whether Akio or Usze would win, but rather, how many moves it would take for the two to kill each other. Right at the moment, the odds were running ten-to-one on five.

Finally, after a few moments more, Akio's implacable visage was the first to break. He grinned, thought to himself, _Screw it!_ and then charged forward, raising his ancestor's blade over his head as he let out a war cry with enough menace to stop a charging brute in its tracks. The Sangheili halted his circling and drove his energy sword forward, intent on impaling the charging human. To the alien's surprise, Akio dropped his blade down and managed to swat the energy sword aside, then both combatants took a step back, the alien now regarding him warily.

Usze's stance reflected his surprise regarding the fact that Akio had managed to stop a blade of superheated plasma with a simple folded steel sword. The alien did not, however, know that Akio's blade was anything but normal. Originally, all that had made the sword special had been the special _Shinmeiryu_ forging techniques, which would have done nothing against the cutting power of the energy sword. However, over the centuries, _Yuunagi_ had become imbued with the spirit of the Sakurazaki clan, becoming a legendary weapon akin to any of those belonging to the Heroes of old.

Relaxing his posture slightly, Akio briefly thought back to when he had initially earned the weapon…

---

_Kendo Dojo, Mahora International High School  
__Evangeline's Resort, Day One Hundred Thirty-Eight  
__Synonymous to November 9, 2552_

"_When you came here, you were arrogant, hateful, and contradictory," Setsuna lectured, pacing across the polished wood-tile floor. "You are _still_ arrogant and hateful, but you have at least focused your energies on a proper foe. In these past months, you have gained focus, skill, and power. Though you are not yet prepared to inherit our style, you are now prepared to be ranked among the top echelons of our most renowned warriors."_

_Akio sat silently, motionlessly in the center of the dojo floor, clad in the dark blue _gi_ and black _hakama_ of _Shinmeiryu_ training, his black wings folded on his back. Behind him, seated in a line across the wall, he could sense the other trainers that had worked with him, foremost among them Motoko and Seno, and even little Kagami._

"_For the frame of time given," Setsuna continued, her own white wings rustling quietly with each movement, "you have learned what we have had to teach you. For the purpose for which you were brought here, your training is now complete. Only one thing holds you back from your task. You lack a weapon. In the real world, a sword would have been struck, specifically intended for your use, from the first day of your training."_

_As she spoke, she stopped before a weapon storage rack that displayed replicas of a number of legendary _Shinmeiryu_ weapons, such as Setsuna's own _Yuunagi_, Seno's paired _Shinaijou_ and_ Kagetaku_, and blades wielded by Eishun Konoe and Touko Kuzunoha. She lifted the _Yuunagi_ replica from its place and turned back toward Akio._

"_Under the circumstances, this would be an appropriate situation in which to present you with your birthright, the very blade which I once wielded."_

_Akio's brow furrowed in confusion. The dojo that his family owned and operated on Mars held the true _Yuunagi_, or at least so he'd always been told. Had his family lied, or did they simply not know the truth?_

_Sensing this, Setsuna explained, "The true legendary weapons of Ala Alba and _Kuro Arashi_ have been divided between Evangeline and the Heroes that still live in the magic world, to keep them out of ONI's hands." She turned and gestured to the weapons remaining on the rack. "Each of these weapons are the originals once held in the hands of Heroes, tempered and forged through the fires of conflict and loss. Now I pass my own weapon to you, one Hero to a forthcoming Hero."_

_She held the weapon out toward him in her right hand, and then she grinned, a facet of the lighter side of her personality shining through as she said, "Don't go getting yourself killed with it."_

---

_Ariadne City Streets  
__The Present Day_

Usze spotted the change in the human's posture, the slight loss of that sharp, birdlike focus in his eyes, and knew an opportunity when he saw one. Raising his energy sword up behind him, he lunged forward, striking down toward the human's head. His foe was fast, fast enough to bring his own blade back into a mirroring position before striking forward to parry the blow. The kinetic energy of the block caused both combatants to have to move forward in order to not lose their grips on their respective weapons, switching places in the street and still facing one another.

Akio smirked at the Sangheili and waggled the index finger of his left hand at the alien, holding _Yuunagi_ in a single-handed grip behind his back.

A surge of irritation running through him, the Sangheili thrust his energy sword at Akio's head again, but the human knocked the humming blade of supercharged plasma aside and stepped forward, aligning his own blade to strike vertically down on his foe. Usze stepped to the side of the strike, turning his momentum into a full rotation away from Akio and coming back around to drive his blade forward toward the half-demon's chest. Akio followed Usze's movements, positioning himself to level a beheading strike.

The crowd collectively gasped as the two warriors froze in place simultaneously, _Yuunagi_ held edge-on against the side of Usze's throat, the Sangheili's plasma sword hovering with the tips of its dual prongs inches from the half-demon's chest. The outcome of the duel now decided, all the winnings were collected by a single beagle-eared girl that had put her money on the incredibly-risky choice of a four-move draw.

Usze moved first, disengaging his plasma sword with a flick of his wrist. Akio smirked and stepped back, sheathing _Yuunagi_ as he did so. Hanging the plasma sword handle from a harness on his right hip, Usze remarked, "Your blade skill is exceptional. I look forward to witnessing your unique style in use against our common foe."

That comment piqued Akio's curiosity, but before he could ask, several of the duel spectators surged in, surrounding Usze and bombarding him with questions. Chuckling, the half-demon swordsman slung his ancestor's blade over his back and turned away, strolling down the street. In only a few moments' time, he reached a quiet balcony overlooking a view of the western sea, the pure waters sparkling in the evening sun.

_That Elite, Usze 'Taham,_ Akio mused. _Does he know about _Shinmeiryu_? He's only been here for two hours. How could he have learned enough to recognize someone who uses it in so little time?_

Still looking out over the bay, he called out over his shoulder, "I know you're there, whoever you are."

"I would hope so," a gravelly male voice answered. "I've got about as much stealth left in these old feathers as a gut-shot basilisk."

Clicking sounds accompanied the obvious motion of the figure as he moved to stand beside Akio. The ODST glanced to his left to find a positively-ancient crow demon, twisted and gnarled with age, looking out across the bay. The clicking noises had come from the walking cane gripped in the elderly demon's taloned hands.

After a few silent moments observing the reddening waters, the crow demon turned to regard the swordsman-soldier. "I don't know what it is about the Sakurazaki clan and its tendency to produce _hanyous_," he chuckled.

Akio felt a sensation akin to what would have been ruffled feathers were his glamour not in place. Narrowing his eyes, he growled out, "But at least I'm not white-winged, right?"

The crow demon huffed in that way that only old people seemed to be able to. "I am far older than even my appearance would suggest, fledgling. I have seen many things in my time, including that mistaken superstition that white wings portend ruin on the tribes. In fact, my experience has led me to believe that the white wings were a _boon_ to the tribes."

That response satisfied Akio, leaving him with an unusual feeling in the wake of having responded so swiftly to defend his ancestor's honor. Months of having the stuffing beaten out of him by his trainers, mentally and physically, had changed his views, allowed him to come to terms with and accept his heritage. Shaking off those thoughts, he asked, "So what do you want, old man?"

The crow demon chuckled. "Merely to see this generation's Sakurazaki warrior with my own eyes, as I have done for hundreds of years. Normally, I would impart some bit of wisdom or a new skill to you, but with you, I can see her guiding hand in each of your actions. You've been taught by a masterful _sensei_."

Akio remained silent, watching the elderly demon, predicting he had more to say.

True to form, the demon seemed to withdraw slightly, ancient and wizened eyes growing glassy. "It's a terrible feeling, for a parent to outlive his child," he said. "But it was her choice to bring her life to its end when her love's did. I cannot fault her for that. Living one's life without their mate is indeed not a pleasant experience."

Sighing, the demon tapped his walking cane--which Akio suspected concealed a blade--against the ground. "My greatest regret is that I only saw her one time in her adult life, and I abused the chaos of war most unprecedented as an excuse not to tell her how proud I was of her and all that she had become."

Akio tapped his finger against the sheathed _Yuunagi_ at his side, gazing out thoughtfully over the bay. "I think she knew anyway, old man."

---

_Ariadne Downtown, Commercial Marketplace  
__1857 hours, local time_

Cheryl peered into a tavern along the main thoroughfare, watching as a red-armored Sangheili warrior sat at a table, engaged in an epic arm-wrestling match with a tiger-man gladiator. Along the bar were clustered a number of other Sangheili in differing-colored armor, alternatively watching the contest or otherwise engaged in learning about the local population.

_This world is unlike anything else, and I've been to a couple worlds in my time,_ she thought to herself as she turned and continued walking. _Luna, Reach, Harvest, Arcadia, and Jericho…_ She looked up suddenly as the shadow of a whale-shaped cruise ship fell over her, watching the unusual craft pass overhead. _Of course, nowhere in the Old World has flying whales either…_

A gaggle of children of various races ran down the street, parting like a school of fish to pass around Cheryl as they chased one another and playfully called out to one another. The pink-haired mage-marine smiled as the children vanished into the evening crowds. _The feeling of this world is entirely different, like the resort was. And yet, I have an intuitive connection to this world, and a name to live up to. The only mage in the Sasaki line…_

---

_Viertel Am See Plaza, Outside Merlin's Menagerie Bookstore, City Streets  
__Evangeline's Resort, Day Forty-Seven  
__Synonymous to November 6, 2552_

_The silent stillness of the illusory city-wide academy in the last minutes before dawn stretched on to the limits of Cheryl's perceptions. She stood upon one of the uphill streets that had hosted a skirmish between the Fireteam Charlie 'Marines' of old and Chao's droid army, looking up at a balcony a story above her head, connected to a bookstore that wouldn't open for more than three more hours. With the bookstore closed, she couldn't simply walk out to the balcony and watch the sun rise, but she was no longer exactly limited by doors that weren't open, either._

_She looked to the streetlamp to her right, situated on the sidewalk with about two feet between it and the wall of the store. Near the top of the lamp post, a few feet above the height of the balcony, were two horizontal beams from which banners could be hung that followed the direction of the street. Turning to look back at the wall, there was another flagpole, currently unoccupied, protruding from the side of the bookstore out over the street._

_Nodding in satisfaction, she gripped the cup of coffee she had gotten from the Starbooks several streets over in her teeth, then flexed her fingers, jumped up, and gripped the sides of the lamp. Her UNSC-issue combat boots were equipped with extra-grip soles, but they weren't designed for this kind of job. Still, they were of some assistance as she climbed up most of the length of the lamppost, then looked behind her at the flagpole. Securing her hold, she planted her boots flat on the post, then propelled backwards with all her strength._

_For a few brief, glorious moments, she reveled in the pure sensation of flight in a complete and unadulterated form, far better than she had ever felt from behind the controls of a D77H-TCI Pelican. Then her hands slapped against the flagpole, and natural instincts honed through over a month of training snapped her fingers shut around it, arresting her descent. Sensing her grip on her cup weakening, she lowered her head to brace it against her chest, then freed one of her hands to turn the cup before clenching it in her teeth again._

_She turned herself to face back towards the lamppost, then started swinging her legs to gain momentum. At the apex of her swings, with the most momentum she could gather, she released her grip on the flagpole, launching herself back toward the encapsulated dome from which the bulb projected its light over the street. Her left foot touched down atop one of the horizontal beams, and her right foot continued forward to plant against the bulb dome, and she froze her body in place, balancing carefully in a position, from such a launch, that many would have deemed impossible._

_Slowly, carefully, she stepped up to stand on top of the dome, which was barely half a foot wide, and regarded her new perspective on the world. A smile lit her features as she suddenly realized that she felt, and probably looked, like one of those stereotypical ninja from the old games where they always stood on top of incredibly-narrow beams and the like._

_After a few moments of indulging herself, she simply hopped from the lamppost across the distance onto the balcony, satisfied with herself that she was learning very capably from her training. She chose a four-seat table in the center of the balcony and seated herself at it, facing east toward the World Tree and, beyond, the horizon above which the sun would rise._

_Somewhere in the distant pre-dawn darkness, a bird screeched, its cry echoing solemnly over the cityscape which, for all intents and purposes, seemed abandoned. A cold breeze drifted through the buildings, causing Cheryl to shiver and pull her UNSC-issue cold-weather jacket tighter around her. If she was counting her days correctly, it would be the equivalent of the twenty-first of December today, the official beginning of winter, at least as far as the illusory city and its occupants were concerned._

_The cityscape around her reflected this period of time. Christmas decorations abounded, from garland wrapped around street lamps to the distant twinkling strings of lights wrapped around the World Tree. With the amount of lights required to adequately string the World Tree, it was a wonder that the entire thing didn't go up in flames from latent heat, but it _was _a magical tree, after all._

_The cold chill of the air settled through her thick jacket, and she reacted by sipping her coffee, hoping to infuse its warmth into her. The wintry cold reminded her far too much of the cold of cryo, something she never wanted to experience again. She'd only just recently come out of an eighteen-year cryosleep following her surviving the massacre of the 105th__ Drop Jet Platoon at the Battle of Jericho VII. The combat medics had feared she would suffer a catastrophic case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and so had put her in cryosleep until sufficient time that they deemed the threat of PTSD had passed. She would likely still be frozen were it not for Evangeline pulling her into the squad._

_She listened in silence as a vehicle pulled up outside the store and stopped, presumably a newspaper delivery crew coming to put the day's newspaper inside the machine just outside the bookstore. As she listened to the two men doing the work discuss various occurrences in their daily lives, she reflected on the fact that, though an illusion, this world was filled with people who had hopes and dreams, who felt loss and pain, and wondered briefly what would become of this place if the Covenant glassed Earth._

_Simply put, that would be something they were just going to have to prevent; these people deserved the right to live and continue doing so just as much as the humans on the surface of the planet. They certainly couldn't-_

_Another chill breeze swept over the plaza, the temperature shock causing her train of thought to hit the proverbial cow. Grumbling, she pulled her jacket tighter and bitterly wished for it not to be so damn cold._

_It took her a full minute to notice that the air had gotten suddenly and inexplicably warmer the instant she thought that, and another to notice the ring of fire that surrounded her table. She yelped upon noticing the flame, and realized almost immediately that it was a magical fire. "Wait, did I do that?" she asked to no one._

"_Well, well, it seems you _do_ have a magical talent after all," no one answered. No one here having the meaning of Evangeline A.K. McDowell, in her true form, seated on the roof ledge of the bookstore. "It seems that your extended time in cryogenic stasis also caused your talent to hibernate. Or rather, the pool of magic within your body remained frozen longer than your body did, if you want to look at it that way."_

"_Huh?" Cheryl asked._

_Evangeline leapt down from her perch and approached the Helljumper, gesturing with her right hand and causing ice crystals to form and smother the fire. "Simply put, you have the capacity to become a mage," she answered. "This is beneficial, as I prefer to have one true mage per squad. Of course, that's assuming that you want to become a mage."_

"_You mean like you and Springfield-_san_ and Akashi-_san_?" Cheryl asked, standing and turning to face her commander._

"_Indeed, though we're uncertain as to just how large your magic wellspring is." The vampire stepped forward and shifted into her adult form, gripping the top of the ODST's head. "Hold still a moment and I'll tell you what your affinity is."_

_Cheryl said nothing, didn't even nod, taking the order to 'hold still' to its extreme, logical conclusion. After a few moments, Evangeline stepped away, a look of confusion on her face. "Odd. You don't seem to have a strong affinity toward any particular elemental magic."_

"_What does that mean?" the pink-haired ODST asked._

_Evangeline shrugged. "Could mean anything. Could mean that you're a wild mage. We don't like wild mages. They try to cast one thing and it's a crapshoot whether or not they get it. It could mean that you can learn any spell regardless of affinity. Who knows? We'll only find out by training you."_

_Nodding, Cheryl took a moment to process the last few minutes, then said, "But…isn't magic ability hereditary? From what I've gathered, no one in my family line has been a true mage."_

"_No, inheritance is not the only means by which one can become a mage," Evangeline answered as she moved to stand at the balcony rail, looking out toward the brightening east horizon. "Everyone has the spark, and all it takes is the will and dedication to succeed, and one can become a powerful mage without any genetic blessings. Look at Ayase. It's what she did during her time at Ariadne when_ Ala Alba _was trapped in the magic world, and now there's a Valkyrie division named for her."_

_Cheryl nodded, then sat back down in the chair she had been in. She stared toward the east for a moment, then looked down at her hands and pulled off the leather glove she wore on her left hand. She closed her eyes, sifting through her memories, and trying to recall word-for-word what she had heard from her occasional conversations with Negi and the other mages. "_Practi bigi nar_…" she whispered to herself. "_Ardescat_!"_

_A small flame flickered to life in the palm of her hand, instantly warming the air around her while not burning her hand or her clothing. At first she was satisfied with merely the warmth the flame provided pushing back the chill and all its associated bad memories, but soon she began to twist and turn her hand, watching how the flame reacted to her movements. It seemed to never make direct contact with her skin, altering its size and shape as her fingers or her palm passed through the areas that it was occupying._

"_Impressive control," Evangeline remarked, not looking back to see what Cheryl was doing. The Helljumper suspected that the vampire could sense the flow of magic energy around her. "You'll make a fine mage yet."_

_Cheryl said nothing as the sun broke the horizon, its warm rays of light visible through the light-strung branches of the World Tree in the center of the city. Looking toward the sunrise, Cheryl closed her hand around the flame, smothering it from existence. Even without the warmth or light of the flame, the new revelation of her being capable of practicing magic made for a bright new day in her books._

---

_Ariadne Marketplace  
__The Present Day_

"Standing around all glassy-eyed is a good way to get killed," a voice called out.

Cheryl blinked and looked behind her to find Johnathan's towering form coming up the street toward her. She turned toward him and shook her head, then said, "Just thinking. Being the only mage in my family history's big shoes to fill, you know?"

The big man smirked and tossed something small and shiny at her. "Well, this should help with that."

The object she caught was hard and metal as well, and she opened her hand to find a ring with Latin writing inscribed on it. "A magical focus ring," she murmured, identifying the item immediately.

"Chihiro suggested that I procure that for you," he explained. "That way you don't need to worry about having a staff. Of course, being who he is, he tried to go on and make a bunch of extra implications about it."

Looking down at the focus ring, she slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand and noted that it fit her perfectly, without having to resize itself. She tried not to redden as she thought to herself, _Unfortunate Implications, indeed._

---

_Unknown Forerunner Shield Installation, Accessed Via Onyx Core  
__External Time Unknown, Internal Time Unknown_

Her breathing echoed harshly in her ears as she tracked the flying, black-skinned creature's every movement with her eyes, able to pick out details that no normal human would have been able to. Now, finally, it seemed that the creature had lost their trail, letting out one long, trailing roar of frustration as it continued on into the distance.

She waited until it was completely out of sight, then waited several more minutes, before finally standing up from beneath the fallen tree she had gone prone under, leaves and other forest debris falling from the plates of her cyan-colored MJOLNIR Mk.V armor. "We're clear," she spoke into her helmet mic. "It's moved on."

Two other MJOLNIR-clad Spartan-IIs stepped out of concealment, followed by five Spartan-IIIs literally appearing out of nowhere, having disengaged the photo reactive panels on their armor that gave them visual invisibility. Lastly, two normal humans revealed themselves, one a Navy non-commissioned officer whose unease at the unfamiliar new world and its inhabitants was covered by years of the drill sergeant façade, and the other a civilian female whose response to the new environment was awe and wonder.

"A winged reptilian creature capable of self-powered flight, at an impressive rate of speed, it would seem," the woman said, staring in the direction the unknown animal had gone. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that we had just seen a dragon."

The Marine looked down at the LED display of his MA5B assault rifle, then cracked his neck to both sides. "Dragons are fairy tale critters, Doctor Halsey. That thing may or may not have been a dragon, but it definitely looked hungry. We need to keep moving."

"Agreed, Chief Mendez," Catherine Halsey, originator of the SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR projects, nodded in response, then turned and stared at the golden-domed visor of the cyan-armored Spartan. Or rather, stared _through_ the visor, into the blue eyes of the woman beneath the armor. "Kelly, whenever you're ready."

Kelly-087, the fastest of the Spartans, and technically therefore the fastest human alive, nodded and turned to continue breaking trail for the survivors of the Battle of Onyx, creeping through the alien landscape with her battle rifle at hand. Naturally, the jungle surrounding them was alive with the sound of all manner of creatures, some of which sounded normal to Kelly, other sounds the likes of which she had never even imagined before.

What made it worse was that this place seemed strangely familiar to her, the way that you could go into the house of a relative you'd never met before, but all it would take would be one subtle scent teasing at the edges of your subconscious to make you feel like you'd lived your entire life there. Something about this place _called_ to Kelly at almost a genetic level, something all the modifications done to her body couldn't conceal or destroy.

Shaking off that sensation, which felt to her like delicate strands of a spider's web brushing almost imperceptibly against her face, she forced herself to focus on the terrain ahead of her, careful to minimize the sound and signs of her passage, at least as best she could while wearing half a ton of starship armor. If she'd been by herself, she had no question that she could have passed through the jungle undetected, but with the rest of the group following her, it would be impossible not to leave some sign of their passage.

After all, the Covenant were still out there somewhere, and not even Doctor Halsey knew if there was more than one way into a shield world. For all they knew, the Covenant may have already gotten to this shield world from another location, and they were all marching to their deaths. If that were the case, they'd make a good reckoning for themselves.

That was why Kelly was so surprised when, a few minutes later, she heard Ash-G099, leader of the surviving Spartan-IIIs of Gamma Company, report, "Chief Mendez, I'm picking up low-key transmissions on a _UNSC_ bandwidth."

The group came to a halt as though they'd struck a brick wall. Mendez spun to face the young Spartan. "UNSC radio chatter, here?" He looked toward Halsey. "Doctor Halsey, I was under the impression that this shield facility blocked external radio waves."

"You're thinking of a faraday cage," Halsey corrected, "but yes, there should be no means of picking up transmissions from outside the sphere. Clearly, we are not the only UNSC forces within this installation."

His hand still to the side of his helmet, Ash blurted, "Wait a minute. Now I'm getting _Covenant_ transmissions as well. I can't read either the UNSC or Covenant chatter because it's all encrypted, but what strikes me as odd is that none of it is _agitated_. There have to be both Covenant and UNSC forces in the area, and they can definitely hear each other, but they're not _fighting_ each other."

Silence filled the air for several moments as the team digested this information and each person pondered individually on its implications.

Finally, the silence was broken by Lucy-B091, who hadn't spoken a word since the disastrous Operation: TORPEDO on Pegasi Delta, having suffered from post-traumatic vocal disarticulation.

She opened up an unencrypted channel on the UNSC frequency, and began to broadcast a message in Morse code by clicking her teeth together.

---

_November 12, 2552  
__Ariadne Institution of Might and Magic, Landing Platform 37  
__0715 hours, local time_

Evangeline stood with her arms crossed on the landing platform, the wind of the descending Pelican's turbo thrust engines whipping her hair wildly behind her. The transport rotated to present its troop bay toward her, allowing her to catch a glimpse of the 'H192' stenciled on the outer surface of the starboard rear nacelle.

As the dropship settled fully onto its landing struts and the bay door opened, Lucy was the first out of the Pelican, crossing the distance between the ship and Evangeline in three steps. The other Spartans assumed that Lucy was going to report to the colonel, having been the one to initiate contact and, by extension, their rescue from the wilderness of this world.

All seven other Spartans, Chief Mendez, and Doctor Halsey were almost completely floored when Lucy threw herself at Evangeline, the two meeting in a tightly-gripped hug that looked strong enough to break bones. Over their helmet comms, they could hear Lucy's rapid, hitched breathing, indicative of a valiant struggle to withhold tears.

One of the Spartan-IIIs stepped up beside Halsey and removed his helmet, revealing himself to be Tom-B292, who, along with Lucy, was the only survivor of Operation: TORPEDO. He and Lucy had been close since then, and her actions now unnerved him. "Doctor Halsey, do you…" At a loss for words, he just gestured with his free hand toward Lucy, who was now being held securely by the ancient vampire.

Tilting her head to one side and pressing a finger to her cheek, Halsey watched the scene for a few more moments. "I do believe that Lucy believes that colonel…" There was a momentary pause as Halsey looked at Evangeline's namestrip. "…Colonel McDowell, is her mother."

"That's because for all intents and purposes, I am," Evangeline's voice called out to them. Tom and Doctor Halsey both looked up to see the vampire's icy gaze was leveled on them. "I raised Lucy from the day ONI killed her parents until the day she volunteered for the Spartan program."

This caught the Spartan-IIIs and Mendez off-guard. The grizzled trainer stepped forward and said, "Ma'am, Spartan-IIIs are recruited from war orphans of planets glassed by the Covenant. ONI wouldn't have killed her parents, certainly not four years before she was recruited."

Sensing the sudden change in Evangeline's mood, Lucy stepped back, seeming more like a frightened child than a war-hardened young woman of nineteen, even despite her semi-powered infiltrator armor. Evangeline just gave the young woman a rare smile and laid her hand on her armored forearm, then turned back to Mendez. "Her parents were killed by ONI because they were vocally outspoken against ONI's policy of not employing magic in the fight against the Cove-"

She stopped speaking immediately after Mendez chortled, and failed to conceal it. "No offense, ma'am, but magic? Aren't we a little old for fairy tales?"

Evangeline only stared at him, then her form shimmered and blurred, and where there had once been an adult officer wearing an Office of Naval Intelligence uniform, there now stood a ten-year old blonde child wearing what could only be described as a witch's outfit. "Were it not for those 'fairy tales,' Chief Petty Officer, there would not be a humanity to be threatened by the Covenant now," the child figure snarled. "Whether you believe it or not is your own problem, but the simple fact of the matter is that magic is real, magic is a weapon every bit as lethal as a three-thousand ton projectile accelerated to half the speed of light, and that magic is prevalent everywhere around you."

She gestured to Lucy at her side. "Lucy's parents were killed because they were mages that would not go along with ONI's policy against the use of magic. Lucy, herself, is a potent mage." Her left hand shot forward, her finger aimed squarely into the ranks of the Spartans. "And even you, Kelly-087, have the royal mage bloodline of this world running through your veins, descendant of the Imperial Princess of Twilight."

Kelly rocked back as though she'd been physically struck, even though Evangeline's words went a long way to explain why she felt so completely at ease in this strange world. Then, something occurred to her and she stepped forward, reaching up to pull her helmet off. "Wait a minute. We got here through a portal in the core of a Forerunner planet that we thought would end up taking us to a Forerunner shield world."

"And it did," Evangeline answered immediately. "Even your mighty _Forerunners_ knew of the potency of magic, and the realm which we know as _Mundus Magicus_ was their experiment in combining their formidable planetary creation technology with the wondrous nature of magic, resulting in this, a _completely artificial galaxy_ parallel to our own natural galaxy, accessible only by gateports located on Earth, and evidently on Onyx as well. We mages later constructed our own gateports on Reach."

"Curious," Halsey murmured, apparently just coming out of her own thoughts. "I had always wondered what that one particular genetic marker I found in Kelly's DNA was. The genetic predisposition for magic? That I did not find it in any of the other Spartans speaks of its rarity."

A fangy grin crossed Evangeline's features. "You only think that it's rare. Magic is not genetic, and anyone with the will can learn to harness it. Bloodlines, obviously, are genetic, and I went to a great deal of trouble going out of my way to conceal all the bloodlines that I could from your genetic searches. You just happened to get to Kelly before I did."

All this time, Kelly had been staring down at her clenched fist. She was descended from someone who was of this artificial, but thriving, world, and she held the potential power of magic within her. That certainly explained why being in this _Mundus Magicus_ felt so much like home. She looked up suddenly, locking eyes with Evangeline. "This ancestor of mine, the Twilight Imperial Princess. What was her name?"

"Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia," the vampire answered. "I'll spare you the lengthy history lesson, but the basic concept is that her ability to cancel out magic _nearly destroyed this realm_ on two separate occasions, and after the first it was decided that her memory would be erased, her powers sealed, and she be left to lead a normal life in the Old World. Of course, when has that kind of thing ever gone to plan?" Waving a hand dismissively, Evangeline concluded, "Under her guise of a 'normal' girl, she went by the name Asuna Kagurazaka."

Kelly nodded slowly, seemingly satisfied with that answer. She pulled her helmet back onto her head and turned away, taking in the scenery of the city of Ariadne. Both Halsey and Evangeline knew that Kelly's own family name had been lost to her, forgotten as a result of the genetic augmentations to her body and mind. It was almost a foregone conclusion that the fastest of the Spartans would take up the family name of her ancestor, if for nothing other than a sense of identity.

Evangeline turned her attention to her ersatz daughter. "It's unlike you to be so quiet, Lucy," she said. "What's troubling you?"

If it was at all possible for a fully-armored Spartan to look embarrassed, Lucy fit that image to a tee at that moment, her shoulders hunched together as she stared at the ground through her visor. Tom spoke up, "She can't speak anymore. She and I were the only survivors of an assault on a Covenant refining facility. The trauma gave her post-traumatic vocal disarticulation."

Rage coursed through Evangeline with such barely-contained potency that her magic aura radiated outward visibly, dispelling any disbeliefs that Halsey or Mendez had about the existence of magic. Even the Spartans recognized that they were face-to-face with an individual who could effortlessly snuff out all their lives without so much as batting an eye. The only thing that made it bearable was the deeply-ingrained human instinct that told them they were not the targets of that terrible anger.

Shifting back to her adult illusion form, Evangeline laid a gentle hand on the top of Lucy's helmet, and her whispered words were no less frightening for their lack of volume as she said, "ONI will pay for what they have done to you."

---

_November 17, 2552  
__UNSC _Yamato_, Bridge  
__1312 hours, Ariadne time_

Time was growing short. In one more day, the Forerunner dreadnought would reach Earth, allowing the Covenant to continue their march of the damned toward their 'Great Journey.' That meant that before the day was up, the _Yamato_ and _Pious Inquisitor_ had to be back in the old world in order to take advantage of the Covenant's attention on Africa to liberate Mahora. To that end, the normal activity of Ariadne had increased a hundredfold, the skies filled with Pelicans, Phantoms, and the sea creature-like airships of the magic world transporting supplies and other equipment to the two capital ships.

Seated in her command chair, Evangeline browsed a data pad containing a list of the materials being loaded aboard her vessel. Much of it was magical weaponry and equipment, but there was also a substantial portion of gear 'liberated' from Reach's armories before the planet had fallen to the Covenant. At her left arm, Chachamaru's holographic avatar stood silently on the holoprojector plate, facing the forward view screens, but whether she was actually watching what was going on outside or perusing data on her own time was unknown.

Behind them, the bridge doors slid open and the eight Spartans rescued from the Wild Regions entered, led by a man in blue MJOLNIR armor who had two blade scars across his nose. This leader halted several paces away from Evangeline's chair and snapped to attention. "Colonel McDowell, Frederic-104 requesting permission for Blue Team to accompany you on your mission."

Slowly, Evangeline placed her pad down and turned her chair to face the Spartans. She noted pleasantly that Lucy was among them, and that the young woman held a determined look on her face. On the other side of the group of Spartans, there was Kelly, the descendant of the Imperial Twilight Princess. She looked rightfully shaken up by all that she had learned of the magic world's history and her connection to its most powerful figures, but still knew that her primary intent was to ruin the Covenant's day.

Evangeline nodded slowly at her observations, then focused back on Fred. "Permission granted, Spartan. Settle yourselves into quarters and make ready for a hard day's work."

Fred saluted smartly, then the Spartans departed the bridge. In the corridor leading to the bridge, the armored supersoldiers paused momentarily as they were met with an armored group of an entirely different nature: a dozen men and women of multiple species in ornate armor stepped aside to allow the Spartans to pass, then entered the bridge proper.

As a group, the squad of armored magic warriors stopped before Evangeline, then all simultaneously took a knee as their leader, a tiger-man who would probably have made an excellent Spartan candidate, said, "Dark Evangel, the Ayase Order of the Ariadne Valkyrie Knights wishes to join your campaign against those who threaten our brothers in the old world with extinction."

Evangeline raised her eyebrow. The Ayase Order of Knights, named in honor of none other than Yue Ayase, were the most elite legion of Valkyries that Ariadne had to offer. Five hundred and seventy-six of the most powerful combat mages in the entire _Mundus Magicus_ dimension, selected based upon their dedication to the pursuit of knowledge and selflessness exemplified by their namesake, their addition to the order of battle would only further stack the pain being aimed at the Covenant.

The more pain, the better.

"We gladly welcome the addition of your valiant warriors to our cause," Evangeline said. "With your aid, not only will we destroy the Covenant with ease, but we shall also demonstrate to the world what three different and unique cultures working together for a single goal can accomplish."

As Evangeline turned her chair to face forward, Chachamaru spoke up from the holographic projector, "Loading preparations are seventy-four percent complete. The ship will be ready for departure within two hours."

"Excellent," Evangeline answered. "Issue recall orders to all crew and combat personnel. We depart as soon as the loading is complete and all personnel are aboard."

---

_UNSC _Yamato_, Briefing Room  
__1452 hours, Ariadne time_

Even with only the platoon, company, and squad leaders of the Third Marine Special Operations Division present, along with several of the Spartans and Valkyries, and a handful of Sangheili ground commanders from the _Pious Inquisitor_, the briefing room was packed to capacity. But even despite the cramped accommodations, there was an almost palpable tense energy in the air, the warriors in the room giving off the sense of a blade that hungers to draw blood, all knowing that action was imminent.

Evangeline stepped forward past the large holographic projector that took up the floor of the amphitheater-style briefing room, looking toward the ODSTs in the room. "At last, our day is at hand," she said aloud. "The mission to liberate Mahora will commence immediately following this briefing."

The lighting in the room dimmed, and Evangeline activated a tactical map of Mahora that rotated in midair. "The enemy has fortified Mahora against attack by conventional UNSC forces. Unfortunately for them, we are anything but conventional." As she spoke, the tactical map began to fill with red dots indicating anything the size of a Covenant lance or larger. Thousands of red dots soon filled the map. "Their primary defense lies around a ring of antiaircraft batteries that will prevent ship-based support, to include deployed air support, direct fire missions, and resupplied runs. Until these batteries are neutralized, you will be alone on the ground.

"Our comrades here in the magic world will open the gateway back to the Old World, which we will enter under stealth, and deploy the initial invasion force while maintaining stealth. The ship will not lower its stealth field until enough of the antiaircraft batteries have been neutralized to no longer threaten the ship. As you know, we cannot maintain the stealth field and utilize weapons at the same time."

The tactical map of Mahora vanished, and the lights returned to their normal illumination. She once again looked amongst the individuals in the room, humans, aliens, and beast folk. "This is the largest single operation that this task force has undertaken. We are going into battle against a determined and implacable foe, alongside new allies and new combat strategies. It is inevitable that some of your men will die. Some of you here may even die. But know this. The stand we make here will be recorded in the annals of history of _three separate cultures_ for all time. It has been my honor and privilege to train those of you that I have trained, and to serve with those of you I have not."

---

_Ariadne Institution of Might and Magic, Rooftop  
__1508 hours, local time_

It had taken nearly a hundred mages to channel enough magic power to create a gateway between the two dimensions large enough to allow the two starships passage, including the potent magical knowledge of Nealla and Faizel. Standing at the edge of the rooftop, Zazie watched calmly as the Sangheili capital ship began to slip through the portal first, the intent to confuse the Covenant of its allegiance just long enough for the UNSC carrier to slip in behind it. Behind the _Pious Inquisitor_, the boxy form of the _Yamato_ angled up to follow, and as it did so, a glowing geodesic sphere of golden energy briefly surrounded the ship, before its entire form wavered and disappeared from sight as its cloaking field engaged.

The only indication of the _Yamato_ passing through the portal was the disturbance of the portal's 'surface,' the ship itself remaining completely invisible throughout the entire process. The wake-like disturbance continued on for several moments, prompting a moment of musing from Zazie concerning the false assumption of a ship's size based on how far away it was. Then the wake disturbance disappeared, and the two ships were gone. Moments later, the portal dissipated as the mages summoning it released the magicka they were holding to maintain it.

Faizel and Nealla approached Zazie, standing to either side of her and looking out toward the space in the sky that the portal had occupied. "Almost a shame, isn't it?" Faizel murmured. "Even after five hundred years, Eva's still running off to save the world, and we're stuck here as bureaucrats and administrators."

Nealla smiled faintly. "Evangeline has her mind on the endgame. She sees the reclamation of Mahora as little more than a training exercise, to prepare her Marines for the true battle to come."

"Well, we might get our shot to crack some skulls after all," the immortal Marid chuckled. "And either way you look at it, the sky's about to fall down on some alien basterds."

* * *

**A/N**: And now the rest of you can get pissed at IE as well, because here is where I would have included a trailer for the Unification War, but IE decided to be a douche and crash every time I tried to paste into this window.


	9. This Is Our Land

**A/N:** The original intent had been to just drop a full chapter of the entirety of the battle, but I figured a short breather to introduce a 'new' character, explain just a tad bit of backstory, and prepare some conventions of new weapons and whatnot was in order. Plus, epic four-page-long drop segment far superior to Recon's opening drop. Prepare your brain to be broken.

* * *

**This Is Our Land**

_November 18, 2552  
__UNSC _Yamato_, Starboard SOEIV Deployment Bay, In Transit Through Dimensional Gateport  
__1326 hours, Japan Standard Time_

An electrically-charged atmosphere of anticipation filled the tactical ready room attached to the deployment bay as the Helljumpers of 3/A-6, as well as Spartan Blue Team, readied themselves to go into battle at long last. The tension was thick enough to cut with a plasma sword, and put into words, only one sentence could properly describe the atmosphere within the bay, within the entire ship: "We are here, you are squatting in our home, and _we do not approve_."

In the center of the room, the tactical holographic map displayed a three-dimensional image of Mahora, a city which was vastly different than the fantastical recreation of days long past in which they had spent their last several months. Like many other major cities, Mahora had grown upward when it could no longer grow outward over the course of the last several centuries, though the architectural style remained almost identical to what the Mage Knights were familiar with. The cultural and symbolic icon of the city, the World Tree, had likewise grown as well, perhaps spurred by the threats of human development overshadowing it, until the magical tree was now of truly colossal proportions, towering over a mile into the sky and visible from nearly the entire island nation. Over the years, Mahora had gradually absorbed Tokyo to become the capital of Japan.

Chao tugged on the single tight braid she had pulled her hair back into, then began to wrap that braid into an equally-tight bun. Nearby, Akio and Chihiro sat tightening the straps of their shin armor as Cheryl tugged on Alysia's chest plate to center it comfortably on the Helljumper. Johnathan sat against the tactical map, greasing the rotating mechanism of his rocket launcher as Fred sharpened his twin combat knives. On top of the tactical map above them, Linda and Cynthia had completely disassembled their sniper rifles, C and D models, respectively, and were individually cleaning each moving part. A rivalry was brewing there, and were it between Linda and a normal Marine, it would be no contest, but as Cynthia was the very reincarnation of Mana Tatsumiya, it would prove to be a Covenant bloodletting contest of epic proportions.

Finished with her own preparations, Alysia picked up her battle rifle and gave it a glance, then looked around the room at her squadmates, at the Spartans they would be fighting alongside. Kelly stood with Chao, helmet off, battle rifle slung over her back, and the faint snippets of conversation Alysia could hear over the ambient noise of the bay indicated that Chao was regaling the Spartan with tales of her ancestor. Fred and Johnathan were easily conversing about their various war exploits, and despite the cold personalities of the two snipers, neither Linda nor Cynthia exhibited any signs of tension between them.

The five Spartan-IIIs, on the other hand, readied themselves in a little cluster separate from the Spartan-IIs and the ODSTs. Alysia had read up about the various Spartan projects from the ONI datafiles that Evangeline had given them access to in her resort, and she knew from what she had learned that this sort of tension on their part was natural, considering the volatile nature of the chemical cocktails they had been treated with. Despite this, the movements of the Spartan-IIIs were, like those of the Spartan-IIs, full of speed and confidence, mechanically checking each others' armor and weapons the same way they'd done in practice hundreds of times before, and for this group of Spartan-IIIs, the same way they'd done on several occasions before actual combat. The only one different was Lucy, whose movements upon close inspection revealed just a hint of nervousness to temper the confidence.

Cheryl noticed Alysia's gaze and followed it to see Lucy leaning against a wall near her fellow Spartan-IIIs, waggling her fingers in the air as motes of light danced between her digits. "Like getting back on a bike," the pink-haired Helljumper murmured.

Alysia looked over. "Hm?"

Cheryl's raised chin gesture took in Lucy's actions. "She's trying to see if it's like getting back on a bike, using magic I mean," the newly-minted mage explained. "Trained as she was by the colonel, it means she learned the Western incantation style of magic, which she can't do anymore due to her vocal disarticulation. And after what, thirteen years of not using magic at all in order to preserve the Masquerade and not draw ONI's attention? She doesn't even know if she can still use magic at all."

The Chinese Helljumper nodded. "I can see where that would make her nervous, especially considering that it was Colonel McDowell who trained her initially."

A holoplate attached to the tactical map lit up, illuminating the avatar of Chachamaru as the android-turned-AI remarked, "You incorrectly assume that Master's motive for raising Lucy was solely to use her as yet another pawn in her gambit against the Office of Naval Intelligence. However, when Master found Lucy in the ruins of her home after eliminating the death squad, she saw in that child a reflection of her own dark and troubled past, and maternal instinct compelled her to protect the child from having the same fate befall her."

Cheryl crossed her arms. "So big, scary Dark Evangel's got a soft side. Who'd have thunk it?"

"And with the kind of trauma that witnessing your parents' murder would imprint on a child, it's easy to see why she would've latched so strongly to Colonel McDowell," Alysia added. Then she cast an aside glance to Chachamaru. "I find it strange that you speak of Lucy with such familiarity, when you're so formal with everyone else."

Alysia expected one of two reactions, either for Chachamaru to show no reaction whatsoever, or to display embarrassment at being called out. But to her surprise, the holographic image simply shrugged one shoulder unconcernedly. "Lucy viewed me as an older sister as she was growing. I came to view her in that very manner."

"I see," the squad leader murmured. She tilted her head to one side, her mouth open as though she had another question, then she shook her head and refrained from asking.

Instead, she watched as the Spartan-IIIs moved toward several of the equipment crates that had been brought aboard from the magic world, crates that contained the last remnants of a dead world. "Let's see what we've got in here…" Tom remarked as he pried the lid off the first crate and looked inside. Within the crate, armor attachments designed specifically for the Semi-Powered Infiltrator armor were stacked in neat rows.

"Where the hell did all this come from?" Ash asked as he pulled out a jetpack harness. "I thought these armor attachments were lost on Reach."

Chachamaru turned toward the Spartans. "A large stockpile of experimental equipment was sequestered away from the HIGHCOM Armory Omega on Reach prior to the assault of the Covenant attack fleet and stored in _Mundus Magicus_ for use in defense of Earth, knowing that eventually, this day would come."

"Best not let 'em go to waste, then," Tom said, retrieving a jetpack harness of his own. "Load up, Spartans. Double- and even triple-stack it if you feel like it."

The Spartan-IIs also joined in raiding the equipment from Reach, all three selecting jetpack harnesses, while Linda also picked up one of the active camouflage generators. Akio noticed this, and made a show of turning to Cynthia and tossing a data chip to her. "Upgraded that camo package I gave you a couple weeks ago, using some tweaked Covenant tech and a little touch of magic. Good as or better than Elite models, now."

Cynthia caught the chip, then immediately inserted it into the data port at the back of her helmet. As she did so, the door into the ship opened, the width of the doorframe barely managing to admit an individual whose size dwarfed even Johnathan, both in height and body composition. None of the UNSC personnel had ever seen the man before, indicating that he had probably come from the magic world to join in the fight. He was armed only with an M41 rocket launcher, the design of the weapon similar to the version that had seen widespread use during the Fall of Reach, but the ODSTs could sense an aura of magic surrounding the weapon.

"I'm here to kill some aliens," he said simply.

Tilting her head to one side, Chachamaru's holographic avatar regarded the man. "I was not aware that you would be joining us. When did you come aboard?"

He shrugged. "I came along with Strom to that little assembly back in the home country, thought I'd come along with you guys to break stuff."

"There are certainly enough enemies to go around." After a pause, Chachamaru admonished, "Just keep in mind that the Sangheili and their forces are our _allies_."

"Damn," the man responded, mock-skulking, then hefted his weapon and moved off down the bay, toward the pods.

Chihiro walked over to Alysia and Cheryl, arms crossed over his chest. "Man, didn't think us humans got any bigger than Spartan-_chan_," he remarked, watching the newcomer sit down and inspect his weapon. "Who the heck is that guy, anyway?"

A clatter of wood, inimitably familiar to everyone in the squad except Chihiro, announced another newcomer's arrival. "That is the son of Jacobus Rakan," Chachazero announced, clambering on top of a crate of weapons taken from the Reach armories, the brute spiker slung over her back. "His birth name was lost to record, and goes only by the given name Gutts. Where his father was Rakan of the Thousand Blades, the son is Gutts of the Thousand Rockets."

The newcomer to the squad snorted. "Is that… really?" Then his brow furrowed as a thought occurred to him. "Wait a second, Rakan went out way back in the day, over five hundred years ago. Just how the hell is this guy still alive?"

"I age slower than normal humans," Gutts called out from across the bay. "Comes from my mother's side."

Chihiro, ever interested in hearing about his ancestors, especially from those who had actually lived alongside them, picked up his helmet and strode across the bay, intent on soliciting stories from the giant man. As this was going on, Chachazero hopped down off the weapon crate and strode over to Lucy. Alysia and Cheryl observed the interaction as Chachazero said, "I'm coming down to spill some blood, myself."

The mage-turned-Spartan smiled down at the murderous puppet, and responded wordlessly with sign language. Neither ODST had ever learned sign language, and therefore had no idea what was being said.

"Of course," the doll replied to whatever had been stated, twirling one of her blades around her right hand. "It'll be just like old times, you and me. Just don't try to cram me into one of those stupid weapon racks."

Lucy made an abortive laughing sound, then leaned down, scooped up Chachazero, and hugged the marionette the way that a child would hug a precious toy. Both watching Helljumpers instinctively took a step back from sheer shock at seeing that unfold.

Cheryl turned toward Alysia and asked, "Am I the only one who had a sudden vivid mental image of Lucy at like, four years old, going to bed each night cuddling _Chachazero_?"

"No, I just thought that, too," Alysia answered, shaking her head slowly.

Almost unable to resist the temptation, Chachamaru remarked offhand, "That actually was the case…"

Amber alert lights flashed on overhead, accompanied by a wavering klaxon tone. Grabbing her helmet, Alysia took a deep breath, then called out over the noise, "Let's hit it, Knights! This is what we spent six months bleeding for! Arm up and get to your pods!"

* * *

_Sangheili Battlecruiser _Pious Inquisitor_, Low Orbit Above Mahora, Japan  
__The Same Time_

The transition from the humans' portal to the planet that gave rise to them was not unlike any other transition from slipspace to normal space, Rtas mused as the tremors of reentry rumbled through the _CCS_-class battlecruiser. The lighting of the ship's bridge rose back to its normal, albeit low, intensity, and the shipmaster leaned back into his floating chair, waiting for the reports from the bridge crew.

He was not kept waiting long. "We are through," a crimson-armored Sangheili reported, eyes glued to his station.

Across the bridge, another reported, "The Jiralhanae have not made any aggressive actions. They believe that our ship is one of theirs."

"Then show them the folly of their lazy assumptions. All gunners, fire at will," Rtas commanded, then hammered his fist on the arm of his chair for emphasis. "Set fire to their emplacements and _burn_ their filth from this city."

Standing cross-armed in the back of the bridge, Usze watched the holographic images of the ship's point-laser cannons beginning to fire their deadly luminous volleys down into the city. He observed this only for a few moments, then turned and strode toward the doors leading out, the hilts of his twin plasma swords glinting dimly in the light. "The ground assault shall begin soon. I shall join my newfound brothers on the field."

Not turning away from the screens, Rtas nodded his head solemnly. "Fight with honor, Warrior."

* * *

_Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle A699, UNSC _Yamato _Starboard Deployment Bay, Low Earth Orbit  
__1330 hours, Japan Standard Time_

The darkness of Alysia's pod interior was broken by the various systems that flashed on one-by-one as the overhead pylon swung the drop pod from its boarding position to the exterior hull, from which it would be flung down to the surface below. Being a squad leader's pod, the number of electronics contained within was greater than that of a standard trooper's pod, primarily in the form of enough communications windows to simultaneously speak to everyone in her squad, as well as a permanent link to her company commander and to the ship.

One-by-one, the communications windows blinked on, showing Cheryl, Johnathan, Chihiro, and Akio from top to bottom on the left, and Evangeline, Alpha Company's commander, Cynthia, and Chao from top to bottom on the right.

"_Our new friends have announced our intentions to the enemy,"_ Evangeline informed her troopers. _"They're targeting enemy launch facilities and antiaircraft batteries, which should remove the need for a direct ground assault against the Triple A. However, until enough are cleared, the ship cannot provide additional support. Civilian resistance groups and survivors of the Marine garrison have almost been overrun by the enemy presence. Support them as necessary, but remember your primary objectives."_

As this was going on, Alysia looked over the other displays to see the expressions of her squad; it was the first time they would be going into battle with each other as a team. Cheryl looked concerned, but steady, and Johnathan's expression was calm, a staple of dissonant serenity, considering what they were about to dive headfirst into. Chihiro was bobbing his head in his pod, his mouth moving soundlessly as the computer noted that his comm channel was muted. Akio's face was concealed behind his polarized visor, likely already in the zone. Cynthia's face was set in stone, and there was no question that she was prepared to fight. Chao, for this being her first drop from orbit, looked remarkably calm; but then, Alysia had to remind herself that Chao had probably seen more combat than the entire squad put together.

Near the top of her pod, just to the right of the central viewport running down the length of it, a panel with five colored blocks lit up, shifting color from green to red as the blocks individually lit up. Seeing this, she polarized her helmet, and watched her squad's reactions. Most of them matched her action, with the notable exception of Chao, who had no helmet.

Alysia grinned, her face hidden, and broadcast across the open channels, "We are dropping into Hell, troopers!"

In sequence, beginning with the pods of the platoon commanders and working down the chain of command from there, the pylons began releasing the drop pods, where they free-floated in the low gravity for a few moments before white light flared atop the pods, propelling them downwards into the atmosphere. A rumbling vibration coursed through her pod, indicating that her pylon had released her. Her stomach turned over at the sudden sense of weightlessness, and then the rocket engine at the top of her pod flared, sending her soaring down to the planet below.

The rest of her squad were only a second behind her, following in the Helljumper tradition that commanders always precede their troops into the field. On the communications screens before her, she saw Chihiro raise his head and remark, _"Hey, Colonel, now's the time to speak up if you want us to hold back."_

Evangeline's return grin could only be described as fangy. _"I couldn't get your own mothers to stop you now. All forces, listen up: We're going to take back Mahora today!"_

The comm popped, and cheers erupted from the Helljumpers and anyone else who was keyed in to the UNSC frequency. Alysia thought she even heard a few throaty roars from some enthusiastic Sangheili listening in, and the thought brought a smile to her face; even though they had absolutely no stake in the battle or the lands being fought over, the alien warriors were relishing the prospect of getting into it with their blood rivals.

Evangeline only allowed the noise to carry on for a few moments, then started back in, _"Alpha Company, you'll lead a direct assault against the enemy. The heaviest and most brutal fighting is yours to claim, if you can beat our new friends to it."_

In the second comm window on the right, Alpha Company's commander, a seasoned Helljumper whose breastplate read 'WEEKS,' nodded his head. _"Roger that, ma'am. First through Tenth, you guys are the stars of the show. Don't go getting yourselves killed."_

"_Bravo Company, send two platoons to capture Narita spaceport, and keep the rest in reserves to support other operations,"_ Evangeline continued. _"Charlie Company, the Sangheili have done most of your work for you, but there are still antiaircraft batteries on the ground that must be eliminated in order to allow the ship to provide reinforcements and support."_

Alysia's pod rocked as it encountered the edges of the atmosphere, flame wreathing the craft from the friction of air resistance. Her eyes affixed to the readouts on the heat shield integrity; pod failure was the leading cause of death for Helljumpers, and most of the reason for their ubiquitous nickname. Beyond the flame wreathing her pod, she could see the blue-purple hull of the _Pious Inquisitor_ as she passed it, her pod vibrating from the shockwaves of the pulse lasers firing down at the Covenant emplacements below.

With the backlighting of the pulse lasers illuminating the interior of her pod, Alysia listened as the emergency band crackled, _"I've got a problem here. Computer is indicating stress fractures in the heat shield."_

Her heart skipped a beat. Any damage to the heat shield meant that the unforgiving temperature of atmospheric insertion could breach the SOEIV, either roasting the hapless Helljumper alive or causing the pod to catastrophically fail. She listened breathlessly as another trooper, presumably the first's commander, ordered, _"Adjust to a shallow trajectory until you're out of the heat arena, then stabilize and come back around."_

Cheryl's voice broke into the channel, _"Stand by, trooper_." Alysia glanced down at her comm window to see the chin of her helmet almost resting on her breastplate. Faint murmurings in Latin continued over her channel, and as her head rose, Alysia looked through the upper windows of her pod to see the stricken pod, glowing cherry red from the damaged heat shield, slowly return to a more normal dull red color. She smiled. _Proper application of magic,_ she thought. _Let's reduce that fifteen percent failure rate down to zero._

As her pod passed the initial danger zone of potential immolation, the flames swiftly dispersed. Far below, through the haze of cloud layers, the city was just barely visible, a sprawling metropolis that had grown around the original city of Mahora, unchanged over the years as a historical district, that was now crawling with enemy forces. She watched pulse laser fire from the _Pious Inquisitor_ lance down into the city with surgical precision, targeting enemy barracks, antiaircraft batteries, and automated turrets with equal ferocity.

"_Fifteen klicks off the deck,"_ Weeks' voice sounded in her pod.

Separately, Chihiro's voice called out, the grin on his face vocally obvious, _"Now _this_ is what I call a squadron!"_

Looking up through her upper viewports again, Alysia could see the hundreds of other descending SOEIVs, above them the Sangheili cruiser still pouring its fire down to prepare the way for them. Clouds of Banshees and Phantoms were now deploying from the _Pious Inquisitor_ as well, painted green to signify their alliance with the humans and broadcasting friendly IFF signals. The Banshees spiraled downwards, their engine pods leaving glowing trails in the sky, moving to screen the unarmed drop pods. Chihiro's comment was accurate enough; being part of the spear-tip of such a formidable force was an empowering feeling.

Minutes passed in relative silence, aside from murmured reports across the battle net. Alysia took the rare opportunity to center herself once more, while enjoying the unique view of the mother planet that was available in no other way. Taking a deep breath, she calmed and focused herself, feeling her adrenaline starting to flow in preparation for combat.

As her pod entered a deep cloud bank, the general frequency crackled with a trooper remarking, _"Shit, listen to those goddamn aliens using our radio station to broadcast their propaganda."_

Obligingly, Alysia adjusted her pod's frequency in time to catch the tail end of a statement by the enemy. _"Though the treacherous vermin fall upon us like rain, we do the Prophets' bidding. Show no f-"_

The transmission died in a burst of static, to be replaced by a jaunty tune, followed by the inimitably-cheerful voice of Kazumi ringing out, _"Once again, we have hijacked the airwaves to bring you the freshest news around, and a break from those lies that those alien bastards would have you listening to. This is Kazumi Asakura, your favorite DJ here on Mahora Independence Radio. We are locked onto you live coming from the UNSC _Yamato_, our radio station on Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive!"_

"_Hah!"_ Chihiro laughed. _"Count on Paparazzi-_kun_ to shut those apes up!"_

"_This just in, folks,"_ Kazumi's voice continued. _"Our heroes have finally made it back to the homeland! Our angels are dropping in from _Mundus Magicus_, and they've come to kick these aliens to the curb! I'd like to dedicate this one to all the brave troops out there, let this one be your theme music power up! This is Through the Fire and Flames, by Dragonforce."_

The heavy piano and percussion intro to the song blared over the pod speakers as she broke through the lower layer of clouds, and she could feel her blood begin to pulse in tune with the rhythm. She glanced down through the windows of her pod, and from within another cloud bank directly beneath her, a cloud of a different sort emerged: a horde of tiny, dark shapes moving rapidly toward the ODSTs. As they neared, they swiftly resolved into a wing of the ubiquitous Covenant fliers.

"_Banshees!"_ Weeks alerted. _"Six o'clock low!"_

Alysia gripped the maneuvering sticks and engaged manual control, watching the boiling swarm of Banshees carefully as they swooped in on the SOEIVs. One peeled in her direction and boosted toward her. She watched the enemy vehicle closely, staring intently at the engine pods, currently glowing a brilliant azure as the Banshees was over boosting toward her.

Just before it reached effective range, a hail of repeating plasma bolts struck it from the side, forcing it to break off its attack. A green-painted Sangheili Banshee roared through the space it had occupied, hotly pursuing the enemy pilot. Shaken by her close call, she returned her pod's controls to automatic and continued her descent.

Other Helljumpers were not so fortunate as her.

"_I'm hit! I'm hit!"_

"_Inertial compensator is out!"_

Alysia looked up and out, watching helplessly as dozens of pods fell out of the formation, trailing flame or black smoke, all the while the enemy Banshees continued to chew through the helpless ODSTs while the allied Banshees fought desperately to defend them.

"_My canopy's been punctured! Losing air pressure!"_

"_Evasive maneuvers!"_ Weeks ordered over the net. _"Evasive maneuvers!"_

"_No, through their fire, lancers!"_ the Sangheili flight leader shouted in response. _"We will handle these ourselves!"_

The ODSTs that remained fired the top-mounted engines in their pods, increasing their speed in a bid to get away from the aerial battle. Alysia followed suit, even as Weeks broadcast over the company frequency, _"Helljumpers!"_ His voice was strained, and the noise filters didn't entirely remove the sound of alarms originating from within his pod. _"They've shed the blood of our brothers. They have killed our friends and burned our worlds. It ends today! One minute to touchdown, Mage Knights!"_

The cheers that had greeted Evangeline's proclamation at the beginning of their drop had been filled with excitement and energy, indicative of men and women ready to retake what was rightfully theirs. Those cheers that answered Alpha Company's commander were audibly different, filled with a righteous indignation and a desire to exact a vengeful toll for every drop of blood that had been spilled from their comrades. The looming battle had suddenly become much more personal.

A heavy thump rocked Alysia's pod, sign of the air brakes deploying, and her pod immediately began to slow its breakneck plummet. She held her breath, counting slowly to four. Four seconds was the average time in which the brakes would fail, if they were going to. At the count of six, she relaxed. Her brakes had held.

Below, the city of Mahora loomed, seconds away. As she came closer and closer to impact, she realized with growing dread that the landing zone selected for her squad was already a battle zone, tiny shapes resolving themselves into brutes and their alien underlings, firing toward Marines unseen. She tightened her grip on the control sticks and engaged manual control while sending a warning to her squad, "On your toes, troopers. We're dropping into a _very_ hot landing zone."

A massive cracking sound akin to a cannon firing erupted from her pod as she passed between two skyscrapers, the sound stemming from her pod's braking thrusters firing to reduce her impact speed to something close to survivable. She could see a large group of brutes moving back toward a small building, possibly intending to seek cover inside, and guided her pod toward them. Splattering a few of the aliens on her landing would be a nice initiation to the battle.

As she neared street level, her pod struck the edge of the building rooftop across the street from the brutes, kicking the angle up just enough to send her pod sailing past the targeted brutes and straight through the front of the building behind them, hurling dust and construction debris out into the street.


	10. Winter Contingency

**A/N:** Hey look, this stupid site is being gay again. Who's surprised? Not me. Alien asses to be kicked, posthaste.

* * *

**Winter Contingency**

_November 18, 2552  
__Occupied City Center, Mahora, Japan  
__Immediately After Drop_

"Keep the pressure on! We can't let those bastards get into the aid station! We-"

The sickening squelch of a superheated metal spike impacting flesh and armor, impossibly loud over the noise of the fighting, brought the marine's words to a crashing halt, sending the soldier crashing to the ground, falling out from behind the safety of the broken half-wall of a destroyed grocer's front windows and into the no-man's land of the street outside.

"LT's been hit!" another marine cried out, slapping the bolt release of his assault rifle and leaning out to fire a protracted burst at the brutes pressing toward the medical hold station. "Medic!"

"Suppressing fire, suppressing fire!" a sergeant yelled, raising up and aiming down at the pack of brutes. "Someone get out there and grab the LT!"

The squad of marines, a dozen in all, rose partially out of cover and unleashed a blistering hailstorm of automatic fire at the brute pack, eliciting roars of anger and flaring shields from the enemy combatants. Under the cover of his comrades' fire, one marine slipped through the broken wall and ran in a crouch for his struck commander as stray spiker and carbine rounds hammered the wall and ground near him; dead or not, the man would not be left to the brutes' tender mercies.

One of the ape-like aliens noticed the would-be rescuer and advanced toward him, though it did not immediately fire its weapon. The marine looked up, noting immediately that the brute's weapon was their devastating shotgun-like pistol, the mauler. Without hesitation, he swung up his own close-range equalizer, the M90A close-assault weapon system, and fired before the brute could get into mauler range. The heavy eight-gauge Magnum slug punched through its shields immediately, with plenty of kinetic force and steel pellets left over to turn its face into ground beef.

As the brute slumped, the marine knelt beside his fallen commander, who was bleeding profusely from the spiker round. "Don't worry, LT, I got you!" the marine yelled, grabbing the lieutenant's right arm with his left hand and hauling him up, slinging the man bodily over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Staggering under the unbalanced weight, he pushed up to his feet with a wordless, raw scream of determination, of refusal to give up. The brutes, recognizing him as a rescuer, now began to focus their fire on him, even as they retreated from the squad's heavy fire.

A second trooper broke from contact, dashing over to the doorway into the grocery store, which he kicked open and then leaned partially out of, firing his assault rifle past his comrade to cover him. "Come on, come on! Get in here!" His assault rifle clicking empty, he ejected the spent magazine and reached for another, cocking his head to one side as he heard a strange whistling sound appear and start to grow louder.

Almost before he realized it, the whistling became a shrieking, and then a heavy thunderous cacophony of noise as something struck the edge of the building over their heads, glancing off and slamming into the fueling station across the street. The resultant explosion flattened the brutes and threw most of the marines on their backsides, hurling a fireball into the street amidst dust and debris from the now-destroyed gas station. "HOLY SHIT!" someone in the squad yelled over the ear-shattering cacophony. Amidst the flying debris, the sounds of a half dozen more forceful crashes filled the streets. Another marine was screaming incoherently as though the world were coming down around his ears. As far as the rest of them were concerned, that wasn't very far from the truth.

A different sound rose through the clatter of debris, a sound that the marines would remember to their deathbeds. Raw screams of agony and torment from their brute adversaries washed over them, followed immediately by the sickening smell of burnt hair and burning flesh, the brutes having been doused by flaming fuel thrown from the station's explosion. Marines watched in horror as the enflamed aliens thrashed about, a dozen brilliant beacons in the darkness of the dust cloud, their howls of agony echoing loud and long over the street.

"Don't shoot!" someone yelled. "Let 'em burn!"

Forcibly ignoring the dying brutes, another marine risked his head to take a look out through the slowly-settling dust cloud. Though he could make no guess as to its origin, he saw something far more ominous coming down the street toward the squad's position. "Shit, we've got more of the bastards coming in!" he yelled out a warning to his comrades, switching his battle rifle over to single-shot mode and sighting down the scope to begin picking off the unshielded grunts and jackals before they came into range.

"Shift your fire to the right!" the sergeant yelled, bringing his weapon to bear on the new threats. The assault rifle in his hand thudded like a jackhammer as 7.62mm rounds flew downrange.

Without warning, a marine was suddenly yanked screaming from his position behind a broken window, hauled up into the air by an invisible force only to have his back snapped in half, his screaming coming to an abrupt halt. The implications were immediate. "Stalkers!" someone shrieked.

The marine who had moved to cover the previous rescuer spun in place, squinting through the dust and the smoke for the telltale shimmer of an active camouflage. Out of nowhere, a plasma bolt splashed against his right thigh where he had no armored protection, the heat setting his camouflage fatigues on fire and melting into his flesh. He screamed and fell to his back, and almost immediately he felt hands grabbing him by his shoulders and hauling him away.

It took him several moments to realize that he was being pulled further out into the street, and looked behind him to see not two fellow marines dragging him, but a pair of chittering jackals. "Get offa me, you sons of bitches!" he shouted, struggling to free himself from their grip, struggling to reach his weapon or his sidearm.

Recognizing this action, one of the jackals delivered a swift kick to the man's plasma burn. Pain surged through his entire nervous system, locking him up into a two hundred pound mass of quivering, shrieking muscle as the two aliens continued to drag him into a nearby alleyway, out of sight of his comrades. Once they had gotten a fair distance down, they started to search the wounded man for anything their side of the war might find useful, starting with the field radio they'd initially grabbed him for. They were out of luck in that regard, however, as the radio had been cored by a spiker round earlier in the battle that would've otherwise killed him.

The two aliens chattered at each other in their language regarding their lack of anything useful on the marine, then one of them leveled their plasma pistol at his face. Closing his eyes against the ominous green glow of the weapon's emitter, the marine cringed, a fleeting thought of his distant home passing through his mind.

* * *

_Johnathan  
__Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle A287, 1500 Feet From Touchdown  
__Two minutes earlier_

"_Thirty seconds to touchdown,"_ the onboard computer in Johnathan's pod chimed. _"Manual control engaged."_

The transition from autopilot to direct control was seamless, not heralded by the pod rocking, or the pitch of the engines changing. His hands clenched around the guidance sticks, he drifted his pod slightly to the right, aiming for the street in between two buildings, and finalized his target landing zone. Over his head, the air brakes fired, slowing his descent and sending a sonic boom resonating out as the pod's speed fell below the sonic barrier. Braking thrusters flared at the base of the pod, further slowing his rate of speed.

Below him, he watched Alysia's pod glance off the roof of the building to the left of his landing site and skip upwards, slicing at an almost-horizontal angle directly across the street and slamming through the front of a fueling station. The heat of her pod's surface, combined with the sudden shearing through numerous fuel lines, produced a massive fireball that boiled out and engulfed the brutes she had been intending to splatter.

"_God damn!"_ Chihiro blurted over the comms. _"Look at th-"_

The rest of his comment was drowned out as Johnathan's pod slammed into the ground. The impact barely phased him, adrenaline coursing through his system as he slapped the harness release over his chest with the palm of his right hand, as his left reached over and freed his shotgun from the rack to his right. The pod's canopy hissed, then the explosive bolts hurled it off at breakneck speed, the flying chunk of metal slicing through the air and smashing one luckless brute into the side of a building.

Johnathan stepped out of the now-useless pod, finishing the stunned brute with a bone-crunching smash from the stock of his shotgun. His motion tracker was alive with mixed red and yellow dots, but movement from the alley he had landed outside drew his attention, to find two jackals preparing to execute a marine they had dragged away from his comrades. Shouldering his shotgun, he put an 8-gauge slug into the back of the one directly threatening the marine, then held the slide in place and shoved the shotgun forward by his hold on the pistol grip, racking another slug which caught the second jackal, turning toward him, in the side.

Racking the slide again in that unique manner of his, he turned toward where Alysia had crash-landed and picked his way through the debris-strewn streets. Giving a wide berth to the flames still burning from where her pod had cut clean through the fuel storage tanks, the big man was thankful for the internal atmospheric conditioning in his armor as he followed the trail of carnage toward the horizontally-crashed pod. As he approached, the front panel jettisoned, flipping off into the depths of the fueling station, and Alysia climbed out, weapons already in hand.

"You good, Sarge?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she answered, flipping her battle rifle's fire selector over to burst mode. "Squad, report status."

"_Right as rain,"_ Chihiro reported, his IFF marker placing him near the squad of marines they'd inadvertently saved. To them, he yelled out, _"Let's go, Marines, on your feet! Welcome to the last day of the rest of your life!"_

"_Four, moving into overwatch position."_ At this, Johnathan felt a little bit safer, knowing that soon Cynthia was going to be in place to wreak the utmost havoc on the enemy.

Cheryl's IFF marker showed her on the roof of a building, flashing yellow a number of times to indicate that she was attacking the enemy, and she reported, _"I'll regroup as you guys get up here."_

Shortly thereafter, the radio crackled and Akio was heard grunting, followed by a roar of pain from a brute, which was then swiftly silenced. _"Rejoining the group,"_ he said simply.

"Let's move it out!" Alysia yelled over the general frequency so that the nearby marines could hear her as well. "Push the bastards back!"

Johnathan activated his VISR in threat-detection enhancement mode to see through the swirling dust cloud, climbing back through the wreckage of the fueling station and back out onto the street. Around and behind him, countless green outlines of his squad, of the marines they'd landed in the midst of, came out of their cover and moved forward toward the mass of red outlines up the street.

"_Stay strong, Mahora!"_ Kazumi's voice boomed over the city's public address system. _"Our noble Armed Forces are striking back hard against the arrogant foe, exacting the cost which they have long owed us, in their materiel, their blood, their lives, for every life of ours they have taken, and every world they have burned!"_

Time seemed to slow down to Johnathan as he listened to Kazumi's words, he and his comrades reaching the end of the dust cloud. Alysia was the first out, her battle rifle already spitting its deadly payload at the aliens before them, her sweep of the weapon sending two Unggoy crashing to the ground with their skulls ventilated, a third sailing into the sky on a flaming plume of methane gas from its punctured tank. As though the dust were a physical impediment, Johnathan lowered his left shoulder and charged out through the dust screen next, leveling his shotgun at the nearest brute, some ten feet distant, and squeezing the trigger. The 8 gauge Magnum slug shredded the lesser brute's power armor and flattened the alien like a sack of rice.

"_For __**twenty-seven years**__ have we suffered continual crushing losses, over seventy worlds burned, billions of our friends and loved ones killed by these unfeeling beasts!"_ Kazumi continued, her voice rising in righteous indignation. She was an immensely-talented orator, of this there was no doubt, but everyone within hearing of her words could tell that this war, even though it was a war she was not a true participant of, was something she took very personally. _"Now, no more! It ends today! The history of these days will be written in blood! By crushing the armies of our enemy, and seizing the weapons they thought to turn against us!"_

Chihiro was the next out of the dust screen, advancing forward at a steady pace, heedless of the enemy's return fire, focusing the deluge of lethal plasma bolts from his plasma repeater at the brutes, causing half a dozen shields to flare. The marines following closely behind him with assault rifles focused their fire on the unshielded grunts and jackals, while those with precision weapons capitalized on the weakened shields to take out the brutes he was firing at with only one or two bursts. As his weapon began to heat, the volume of fire slowed, and Chihiro took a knee behind a civilian car and twisted the lever to vent heat, then dropped it at his feet and drew his needle rifle, a weapon also captured from the Covenant at Reach, and sighted down the strange optics. For fun, he put three needles into the torso of a jackal with its side exposed to him and watched the little creature explode into chunky salsa, then shifted his aim to swiftly eliminate other jackals and grunts with needles to the brain.

"_For these aliens who have denied us peace, who have refused us our rightful place in the universe…"_ Kazumi continued, her voice ominously low, _"then we here shall unleash such terrible vengeance that generations yet unborn will cry out in anguish!"_

As if to underscore her words, a thunderous concussive sound came from a nearby shop, heralding a hunter sailing across the street and crashing against the opposite storefront. In the giant hole it had left in the other store stood Chao, red flames surrounding her hands as she raised them toward the enemy heavy assaulter and completed her incantation, "_Flāgrantia Rubicāns_!"

A torrent of flame shot from her hands, crossing the twenty or more feet separating her from her target, incinerating everything along its path, and engulfed the hunter. The collection of creatures let go a jarring chorus of pained shrieks as the intense flames roasted the colony of worms alive. Within seconds, what had once been the most dangerous Covenant infantry was little more than a stack of empty armor.

From behind Chao, a roar of fury and vengeance answered the cries of the fallen hunter, as its bond-mate came stampeding through the shop, its shield upraised to deal a crushing and fatal blow to the human that had killed its partner. Chao turned to give the creature a contemptuous stare, then gracefully and effortlessly backflipped up and over the falling shield, landing behind the hunter and shoving her entire fist into the collection of worms visible between the two parts of its armor. "_LIX Sagitta Magica_! _Emittam!_"

The condensed energy of fifty-nine fire arrows exploded out of her hand, directly into the colony of worms she held literally by the belt. This hunter didn't even get the chance to scream in pain as its constituent parts were immediately vaporized, the armor clattering to the ground around Chao as she stared at the remaining Covenant forces, an evil glaze to her eyes.

"_The enemy may shatter our bodies,"_ Kazumi's speech continued, _"but they will never break our spirit!"_

Emboldened by the overpowering assault and Kazumi's words, the marines in the street let out a wordless roar of enthusiastic confirmation, charging forward into close range with the enemy in the streets. One marine stood higher and turned back to the others behind him, waving his arm forward and crying out, "Come on, men!" before a spiker round took him in the side of the head, dropping him like a puppet with its strings cut.

But the other marines would not be checked, yelling at the top of their lungs as they charged the enemy ranks. Grunts panicked at the furious charge, throwing their weapons to the ground and fleeing in any direction that seemed to promise safety. Half of the jackals joined their more cowardly comrades, while the remainder hunkered down behind their shields. Only two of the brutes broke ranks, the rest all answering the humans' challenge, still foolishly believing themselves superior.

The marines and Helljumpers bore in fearlessly, weapons blazing right up until the point of contact, at which point everything degenerated into a hopeless melee. Marines slammed full-tilt into jackal shields, mass and acceleration knocking the bird-like aliens off their feet, where the marines could then shove their shield gauntlets aside and either choke the life from them or bash their skulls in with the stocks of their weapons, or even bare hands.

Cohesion in the UNSC ranks swiftly came unraveled, some troopers stopping as soon as they reached an enemy to fight it, others charging through deeper into the ranks. Two female marines pushed deep into the ranks, their sights set on one of the violet-blue-armored brute captains. Just before they reached their target, an overcharged plasma pistol shot caught one in the chest, pitching her screaming onto her back as the intense heat of the globe of energy melted through her armor and much of her torso. Distracted by the mortal blow to her comrade, the other marine looked toward her as a spike round struck her shotgun, knocking the weapon from her hands. Undeterred, and enraged by her friend's death, she closed the last distance and slammed her fist into the brute captain's jaw. The brute was unaffected, but the marine not so much. The blow shattered her hand, leaving her vulnerable for the brute to grab her by the arm and hoist her into the air, cutting off her screams with a sudden and brutal snapping of her spine.

As the brute tossed her aside, the body of the marine blocked his view of Chao's advance. The Chinese genius bore in, ribbons of red energy swirling around her arms as she drove her fist into its face. The magic energy she'd gathered erupted in a red flash, instantly disabling the brute's energy shield and leaving the rest of her magically-enhanced strength and momentum to deliver all its kinetic force into its armor and face. The jaw guard crumpled beneath the force of the blow, and Chao felt flesh and bone likewise give way. Blood erupted from beneath the helmet, and the brute roared in pain and outrage, but the human woman gave it no rest. Her left arm came around, hand formed into the flattest and tightest fist she could manage, and smashed it into the brute's throat. Its windpipe crushed by the blow, the brute collapsed to its knees, clutching futilely at the mortal injury.

Cheryl, atop a building overlooking the carnage, caught a glint of movement from the corner of her eye, looking up to see a formation of Banshees sailing unquestionably toward the engagement. "Banshees!" she yelled over the comms, slapping her designated marksman rifle onto her backplate to free up her hands for casting.

As the enemy fliers banked onto their final approach, Kazumi's voice continued, _"Even now they advance on our homeworld, to seize by force what they cannot claim by right."_

"Take cover!" Alysia ordered, diving sideways through the remaining windowpane of a convenience store. Marines hunkered down behind broken vehicles and any other cover they could find.

Chao stared at the incoming Banshees, dozens of them, and glared in contempt at the Covenant fliers. Holding her left hand down by her hip, a grenade-type bubble shield materialized in her hand, which she primed and hurled to the ground as the lead Banshee homed in on her, the fuel rod cannon beneath the fuselage glowing as it slung a cased radioactive explosive bolt down toward her. The bubble shield flashed into existence, intercepting and absorbing the direct explosive impact and the blast overpressure, though the shockwave still hurled her backwards into a crater left by an earlier explosion.

"_We will __**smite**__ the invaders from our skies!"_ Kazumi's ongoing speech roared.

Mere moments after this proclamation, a cyan blur leapt from the top of an apartment building and landed on the canopy of the lead Banshee. Kelly stared at the opaque canopy, imagining the brute inside raging at her presence on his vehicle, and then she triggered her armor into lockdown mode, releasing an electromagnetic burst that instantly shut down the Banshee's systems. Momentum carried it forward, allowing the weight of Kelly's armored mass to tear through the light aircraft like so much tissue paper. From atop the same building she had launched, a volley of rockets and laser blasts reached out into the Covenant formation, slagging another half dozen of their number. Yet even despite this, there were dozens more of the enemy vehicles still in the air, prepared to retaliate against the infantry forces.

"_We will strike without warning, and without mercy!"_

One of the Banshees peeled up out of the formation, spiraling skyward in an attempt to come down almost vertically on the human forces. As it oriented itself, a gout of flame struck it from the side, instantly melting away its control surfaces and sending the misshapen lump of ruined electronics and metal plummeting to the ground. A keening roar split the air, drowning out the howl of the Banshees' engines, as a massive winged red dragon suddenly flew into the center of the enemy formation, lashing out with teeth and claws and wings to send enemy flier after enemy flier crashing to the ground, while shrugging off whatever return plasma fire they aimed at it.

"_Fighting as one hand…"_

Cheryl leapt from the top of her building, propelled by a throw from Fred, who with his other arm aimed a Spartan laser blast to shoot another pair of Banshees out of the sky. Landing on top of the dragon's wing, Cheryl used the momentum of its upbeat to propel her into the midst of a quartet of Banshees, her right hand held back behind her with lightning arcing from the tips of her first two fingers. "_Dios Tukos_!" she exclaimed, arcing her arm forward, over her head, and toward the Banshees. The charged lightning energy released from her hand in an expanding crescent, striking and cleaving in half two of the Banshees, while the electrostatic discharge destroyed the control surfaces of the other two, causing them to spiral out of control, one spinning skyward before detonating, the other crashing into the street, its explosion spraying debris over the battle area.

"_One heart…"_

Alysia broke cover under the distraction of the dragon and the Spartans' attack on the Banshees, running toward the crater she had seen her cousin thrown into, that the second Banshee had subsequently gone down near. "Chao!" she called to her cousin, leaping into the crater, at the bottom of which the Chinese genius lay partially covered by a thin layer of road debris and Banshee parts. Chao's eyes snapped open, momentarily glazed over from the near miss of the fuel rod, her hands grasping wildly in an attempt to stabilize herself. Alysia grabbed one of Chao's outstretched hands, pulling the fire mage up to her feet and out of the pile of garbage she laid in.

"_One soul."_

Chao gripped Alysia's shoulder to steady herself, taking a moment to recover from the shock, as Chihiro, Johnathan, and Cheryl moved forward to regroup with them. Visors depolarized, Chihiro grinned at his squadmates as Cheryl smiled happily, and Johnathan smirked, nodding in approval of the carnage they had wrought.

With the Covenant air assault broken, whatever few infantry remained were now fleeing in a panicked route, making themselves easy pickings for the UNSC Marines charging forward past the squad of Helljumpers, cheering and yelling at the top of their lungs at the liberating feeling of finally having the Covenant break and flee before them. The Spartans on the roofs of the surrounding buildings continued to rain fire down on the fleeing foes, feeling no moral quandary whatsoever about shooting a broken enemy in the back. Overhead, the dragon rained fire of an entirely different nature into the street, sending enflamed and screaming aliens scattering in any direction toward perceived safety, when in truth all directions led toward death.

"_And as we crush their last breath from their throats, as we rise from the ruins of our cities…"_

The members of Three-Alpha-Six strode casually forward, weapons held at the ready, until the street they were on became the crest of a hill, offering them a breathtaking view of the besieged city. Distant flashes of muzzle flares were everywhere, highlighting the low clatter of gunfire at extreme distances. Numerous smoke plumes rose into the sky from all over the city. From where they stood, it was obvious that Mahora was completely engulfed in battle.

"They wanted war," Chao said quietly, the flames from burning Covenant corpses nearby reflecting darkly in her eyes. "Let's go give 'em war-_yo_."

Almost as if in answer, Kazumi's voice rang solidly, solemnly, from a nearby speaker, _"They will know that Mahora belongs to the mages."_

_

* * *

_

_Usze 'Taham  
__Type-52 'Phantom'-class Dropship_ Glorious Advance  
_Ten Minutes After Drop_

The _Glorious Advance_ sliced down through Earth's atmosphere, laden with Sangheili shock troops and two Ghosts carried beneath the dropship's frame, leading an assault force consisting of a dozen similar Phantoms. Within the troop bay, Usze paced from front to rear, impatiently waiting for the opportunity to shed the blood of the filthy Jiralhanae. As he turned another pass to head back toward the front of the craft, a sudden maneuver by the pilot nearly threw him from his feet.

"_Secure yourselves!"_ the pilot warned. _"Enemy anti-aircraft fire has locked onto our location!"_

The time for pacing was done, then. Usze reached up and grasped one of the handholds grafted into the ceiling of the transport. Airbursts from the anti-air guns rocked the Phantom, drawing annoyed grumbles and irritated commentary from the Sangheili warriors. Usze smirked beneath his sealed helmet, turning to glance at the last Sangheili that spoke. "The traitors fear to meet us in honorable combat, so they wish to swat us from the skies before we land."

The nearby warriors chuckled; they liked that outlook on things.

A powerful explosion nearby rocked the _Glorious Advance_, followed by a secondary muffled explosion that all aboard knew to be one of their other Phantoms succumbing to anti-aircraft fire. A number of Sangheili aboard the _Advance_ snarled, their hatred of the cursed Jiralhanae only growing more fervent with every passing second.

Then, the moment that Usze waited for arrived. The Phantom pitched forward into a steeper angle, its forward momentum increasing, and he felt inertia pushing him upwards. They were into their final descent, underscored by the pilot warning them, _"The shore approaches! Thirty human seconds to touchdown!"_

The troop bay hatches unlatched from the hull of the transport and lowered into their open positions, deploying a turreted plasma cannon on either door that two Sangheili moved to man. Tensing his muscles in preparation for combat, Usze unslung the Type-31 needle rifle and flexed his digits over the contours of the weapon. The other Sangheili in this assault force, like Usze, also wielded weapons not seen in the field since the Sack of Reach earlier in the year. A store of those weapons had been aboard the _Pious Inquisitor_, and made available to the Sangheili to use, under the pretense that the weapons had been drenched in the blood of humanity during that conflict, and would now be put to use to _protect_ humans.

The Phantom swept down from the sky, coming to a hover ten meters off the sandy beaches at the lake shore. As the chin turret and the right-side plasma cannon hammered away at the defending foes, the pilot called out, _"We have reached the drop zone! Go, my brothers, go and spill the traitors' blood!"_

All the Sangheili aboard the _Glorious Advance_ roared in response to the pilot's words, their roar even carrying over the scream of Phantom engines and plasma fire, as the warriors all but scrambled over each other to exit the transport and begin with the bloodletting. Spiker and plasma fire filled the air around them, flaring a few shields and splashing against the sides of the Phantom, but otherwise having little to no effect on the invaders.

Usze bent his knees to absorb the inertia of impact, then dashed forward into battle, snapping his needle rifle up in between his steps to eliminate the lesser infantry, the Unggoy and Kig-Yar, with exceptionally-placed shots to their heads or throats. Sangheili return fire in the form of every weapon in the Covenant arsenal shot back up the beach toward the defenders, foolishly advancing toward the Sangheili rather than falling back to more sensible cover and defense positions.

The two Ghosts deployed from the dropship immediately displayed the folly of that error, sweeping wide around the advancing Sangheili like the horns of a bull, then turning inward and unleashing their devastating repeating plasma cannons against the enemy's exposed flanks. Unggoy and Kig-Yar fell by the droves, withering under the intense plasma barrage like so much flammable material, and even the shielded power armor of the Jiralhanae was no match for the sustained fire. In seconds, the initial loyalist defense force had been wiped out.

Far ahead, an anti-aircraft variant of the Type-52 assault gun carriage, known to their human allies as a Wraith, thundered away with its fuel rod launchers into the sky, seeking vainly to swat the nimble Sangheili Banshees out of the air. Beyond it, a heavy anti-aircraft battery, one of many, likewise continued to fire skyward, its heavy plasma bolts splashing against the shields of the _Pious Inquisitor_ high above.

Usze turned to a minor Sangheili near him, who carried the devastating Type-52 guided explosive munitions launcher, and pointed toward the anti-aircraft Wraith. His reptilian comrade nodded and pressed his eye to the optics, stepping out and centering the enemy vehicle in the targeting crosshairs as he depressed the trigger to charge the weapon.

As the heavy weapons trooper was charging his weapon, an assault force from another Phantom advanced up the beach under heavy defensive fire from the Jiralhanae's entrenched positions. Watching this, Usze saw that two Sangheili were already dead on the beach, the others suffering from swiftly-depleting shield spheres. Looking closer, he spotted the reason for such foolishness; it was a rookie assault team comprised entirely of minors, brash and eager for battle, seeking to gain honor and revenge by demonstrating their valor. All they were demonstrating currently were their entrails to the enemy.

"Skirmishers, support that foolish lance and save them if you can," Usze ordered over the battlenet.

"_On our way!"_ the higher-ranked of the two Ghost pilots answered as the two light vehicles shot up the beach, moving ahead of the suicidal lance and boosting forward, doing everything in their power to draw the attention of the entrenched defenders away from the weakened lance. They were only too successful in this endeavor, as now the small arms and emplacement weapons began focusing their fire on the nimble scout craft.

As the lead Ghost pivoted to cut across the enemy's axis of fire, a thin violet beam shot out of the defensive positions and took the Sangheili pilot in the side of the head, drilling a neat hole completely through his skull and sending his corpse crumpling out of the pilot's chair of the ghost. "Kig-Yar sharpshooter!" another Elite near Usze warned.

"I possess his location," the group's sniper calmly remarked, settling his eye against the scope of his own Type-50 particle beam rifle. "Therefore, I possess his posterior."

The Sangheili's sniper weapon bucked, and an instant later, the sniper pumped one meaty fist in the air and exclaimed, "Foolish lizard! Always change position once you've taken a kill!"

"My gratitude," answered the one who'd warned of the sniper. "A fine kill!"

Beside them, the plasma launcher wielded by the heavy weapons trooper thundered four times in rapid succession, sending a quartet of condensed globes of volatile plasma energy on a smooth parabolic arc toward the anti-aircraft Wraith. Two adhered to the fuel rod launchers, while the others attached themselves to random points on the hull. They remained in place just long enough for the Jiralhanae operators and the troops near them to realize their impending doom, and then the globes detonated, shredding the Wraith and leaving the overpressure wave to do the rest.

Usze placed his free hand on the minor Sangheili's shoulder. "Such a deed strengthens the blood." He stepped up from behind cover, raising his needle rifle over his head. "Push forward into the heart of this infestation! Burn the traitors from their holes!"

The Sangheili roared in agreement and surged forward, flooding up the stairs to the beachfront plaza that had, only moments ago, been filled with their enemies. The burning Wraith kept the plaza's temperature high where the sea breeze otherwise chilled the rest of the city as the assault troops stepped over the corpses of Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy without regard. There was only one more defensive line between them and the large anti-aircraft battery, the thunderous shots of which grew ever louder the closer the allied forces came to it. Turret fire from an emplaced plasma cannon sprayed over the assault force. Ignoring the hot bolts that splashed against his shield, one Sangheili major reared back his arm, a glowing plasma grenade hissing in his grip, and hurled the explosive device across the battlefield. Testament to true aim and experience, the grenade adhered to the side of the turret, exploding seconds later to destroy the turret and kill the gunner.

Two dozen Unggoy and Kig-Yar waddled toward the invaders, sent to die as a diversionary force by the Jiralhanae leading them. The Sangheili wasted no time in dealing with them, simply rushing through the wave of lesser infantry and completely ignoring them, save for one lower-ranked Sangheili who, as he passed, called out, "Foolish grunts! The Prophets use you like they used us! Rebel! Or all your clutches shall be destroyed!"

The Unggoy paused rather than immediately pursue the Sangheili like their Kig-Yar compatriots, chittering amongst themselves for a moment. Then, they threw down their plasma pistols en masse and ran in the direction that the Sangheili had come from, fleeing the battle altogether. The Kig-Yar, possessed of a stronger hatred for their former Sangheili masters, turned to attack their unprotected backsides, unaware of the glowing presents that the larger saurians had left behind them. A mass of plasma grenades exploded, wiping out the Kig-Yar foolish enough to not follow the wiser, in this case, Unggoy.

Sheets of directed energy fire and projectile rounds filled the air between the two bitter groups of foes, thick enough to quash any concept of advancing into the opposing ranks. Grenades flew from either side, thinning the ranks of both groups. Slowly, the precision marksmanship of the Sangheili, supported by their mass-firing comrades, began to tip the scales in the favor of the coalition forces. Finally, as a gold-armored captain major crumpled with multiple needle rounds in its now-unshielded head, the pack chieftain standing next to it roared in fury and charged forward, its shield flaring up and glaring an eye-hurting shade of white as it activated its invincibility powerup.

Eyes narrowing inside his helmet, Usze threw down his needle rifle and leapt over the low wall he and his comrades were using for cover, taking the hilt of an energy sword in either hand to respond to the frontal assault. The deadly plasma blades sprung to life as soon as his feet touched the ground, his eye momentarily drawn to a long-dead marine planted against the wall to his left, surrounded by needler shards in the wall around him that had killed him.

Swiftly focusing back on his foe, Usze stabbed his left-handed blade up to catch the haft of the gravity hammer on its downward swing between the prongs of his blade, preventing the gravity discharge from going off. With his other blade, he thrust directly at the chieftain's chest, a mortal draw were it not for the cowardly Jiralhanae's temporary invulnerability. The blow did force the chieftain back, and as it slid backwards, it slammed its hammer down toward the ground, seeking to at least disable Usze's shield and injure him with the gravitic effect. The Sangheili, however, leapt to the left at the last moment, and the leading edge of the pressure wave caught him, flickering his shields and hurling him away from the brute. In midair, Usze flipped and then stabbed his left-hand sword into the concrete, gouging out a pair of furrows and halting his momentum.

Roaring in fury, the chieftain swung its hammer horizontally, aiming to crush it into Usze's chest and turn him into meat paste, but the nimble swordsman rolled beneath the blow, the speed and momentum of his roll translating into distance, bringing him up on a knee behind the chieftain while it was still overextended by the blow. Without hesitation or mercy, he drove his right blade into the enemy's spine, severing not only its own nervous system but the power feed of its armor, short-circuiting the invincibility in the process. The chieftain began to roar in pain from the blow, its own alien physiology keeping it alive longer than a human would have, but Usze swiftly rose to his feet and brought the other energy sword around, stabbing it into the chieftain's throat with such force and violence that it penetrated completely through, severing the alien's head in the process.

Turning to those Jiralhanae that remained, having just witnessed their chieftain slain with apparent ease, Usze disengaged his right-hand sword and holstered it, then shoved his entire hand into the gaping throat cavity of the chieftain, withdrawing the limb caked in gore and the Jiralhanae's blood. He then proceeded to slap his palm against the upper left side of his torso plate, slowly and methodically drawing it down in a diagonal to his right hip. Rather than break and flee, the desecration of their chieftain only spurred the remaining adversaries into a roaring fury. As one unit, they cast aside their weapons, roared their challenges to Usze, and charged.

Beneath his helmet, the Sangheili smiled, and bore in to meet them. The closest Jiralhanae leapt up to deliver a crushing two-handed hammer blow, but Usze calmly stepped to the left, and as the foolish ape came down, his left-hand blade was already prepared, like a viper, to strike into the back of the alien's skull. The next charged directly for him, but Usze spun, snatching the hilt of his right-hand sword from its cradle on his hip and gripping the activation studs as he swung the blade in an arc behind him, the activating energy sword ripping the brute's face from its body.

He didn't wait for the next two to reach him, charging forward to meet them and striking out with his blades to catch the two Jiralhanae in the chest, the superheated plasma slagging their power armor like so much warm butter as they fell to the wayside. He spotted the last Jiralhanae crawling a few feet away, scrambling to get to a fuel rod gun that had been left on the ground nearby. Usze took his time walking up behind the creature, giving it just enough time to barely brush its fingers against the weapon before Usze drove the blade in his right hand through its back, killing the traitorous beast.

Behind him, his comrades shouted words of encouragement and approval as they moved forward to eliminate the anti-aircraft battery and open the way for reinforcements. The minor wielding the plasma launcher stepped up beside Usze and raised the weapon to his shoulder, preparing to fire at the core of the battery that exposed itself after every shot.

Given a moment to ponder, Usze raised his hand to stop the minor from firing, then jerked his head toward the upper level of the battery, where its automated control center was located. "We shall seize this battery for ourselves, use its firepower to erase the other emplacements from this city."

"A fine ploy, brother!" the Sangheili major remarked, then directed the most technically-savvy of the assault force to scale the emplacement and reprogram the controls. The rest of the group fell into defensive positions against any possible Jiralhanae counterattack.

It took less than a minute for the technical Sangheili to complete his task, and the ground beneath the assault team rumbled as the anti-aircraft battery adjusted its elevation, aligning itself with the next closest emplacement in the ring of anti-aircraft batteries. The ground shook again, more violently this time, as the emplacement fired its deadly payload across the ground rather than into the sky. The emplacement it had targeted erupted in blue fire, the shot having taken it at full charge in preparation to fire. Secondary explosions walked their way down the platform, killing the nearby Loyalist forces that were fighting from its shadow. Without pause, the captured battery tracked its next target, repeating its assault with devastating effect. The third and fourth batteries in the ring, aware of this new threat, attempted to counteract the captured battery with fire of their own, but the third likewise succumbed to the counter battery fire. The fourth, however, managed to depress in time and destroyed the captured battery.

Already on the move from the destroyed battery deeper into the city, Usze changed frequency to the shared Sangheili-UNSC battlenet and reported, "All but one anti-aircraft battery has been destroyed. We are pushing into the city."

A nameless communications operator aboard the _Yamato_ responded, _"Confirmed, one battery remaining. We'll mop it up ourselves."_

That fifth anti-aircraft battery had sealed its fate by angling to eliminate the captured emplacement. With the slow turning speed of the turret, it was in no position to harm the _Yamato_, descending closer to the battlefield. The UNSC warship, on the other hand, was perfectly positioned to rain a number of its downward-firing magnetic accelerator cannons onto the battery, effectively eliminating all anti-aircraft resistance from the Loyalists.

That meant that the entire face of the battle was about to change.

* * *

_Cynthia  
__Mahora Central Clock Tower, Bell Tower Gantry  
__Thirty minutes after drop_

A hazy shimmer of displaced air silently approached the unassuming jackal sniper that had taken position at the highest point within the city. But like all other snipers from the mercenary Kig-Yar species, this one was arrogant, convinced that it was invincible in its perch, that no one could maneuver behind it and eliminate it.

The hand that gripped the top of its crest and threw it to the ground, where a six-inch combat knife impaled its throat, belied that invincibility as Cynthia disengaged her active camouflage, pulling her knife out of the dead alien and tossing the body into a corner of the gantry. Scraping the gore off on her forearm armor, she sheathed the knife, then set aside the jackal's beam rifle and rested her own sniper rifle against the wall. Methodically, she removed ten box clips for the sniper rifle and set them in a row on the ground for easy access. Then she reported, "Alpha-Six-Four in position at Overview Two-Five and prepared for immediate sniper support."

Within moments, the battlenet crackled again, _"Sierra Zero-Five-Eight in position at Overview Three-Eight, prepared to support operations."_

Linda's overview location, Cynthia knew from maps of the city and surrounding areas, was a ridgeline that overlooked the city, and allowed her to cover some portions of the city that Cynthia couldn't see. There were other sniper teams to cover other sectors of the city, of course, but to Cynthia, she and Linda were the only ones that mattered. None of the other sniper-spotter teams possessed one-quarter the skill of the two of them. This was proven enough by the fact that the other snipers worked in teams; Cynthia needed nothing but the sniper/spotter rangefinder and macrobinoculars attached to her helmet, and Linda didn't even need those.

Cynthia flipped her spotter glasses down over her visor now, then activated the threat-assessment mode of her VISR system, using the greater range offered by the spotter glasses to pick out targets well outside the range of most small arms. Most small arms being everything except the weapon she lived and breathed by.

"_All second wave forces and resupply elements, begin launch immediately!"_ Evangeline's voice ordered over the battlenet.

Ignoring most of the calls, Cynthia silently observed her area of responsibility as she waited for one of the combat teams to call in a fire mission. With her vision zoomed in to allow her to pick out individual targets on the street level, she began to mark stationary enemy positions and heavy emplaced weapons, directing her armor's electronics to automatically feed this information to the NAV data and city maps of every other trooper connected to the battlenet.

As soon as she started spotting enemy snipers, she picked up her own weapon and shouldered it. "Alpha-Six-Five, engaging enemy sharpshooters," she reported, resting the cheek of her helmet against the stock of the latest-model version of the sniper rifle and zooming in the optical scope to get a good look at her first target. The jackal was sighting down its own rifle and staring down into its area of responsibility, completely unaware of the lethal gaze currently directed at it.

The spotter electronics in her attached macrobinoculars automatically calculated bullet drop, wind speed and direction, and the affects of temperature and humidity on the flight path of her shot, and projected a red circle into her vision that changed position based on the continually-updating calculations. She settled the circle over the jackal's head, stilled her breathing, and applied the barest pressure to the trigger.

The report of the shot was drowned by the noise of battle, and wind currents swiftly dispersed the vapor trail of the shot. She watched emotionlessly as the frail alien's head burst under the force of the heavy anti-materiel round, its death spasm triggering a wild shot of its beam rifle up into the sky.

Over the battlenet, she heard, _"All combat teams, this is the _Yamato_ gunnery crews. We are in position and prepared to offer immediate fire support."_

With all the precision and confidence born of years honing the skill, Cynthia burned down three more of the jackal snipers positioned to cause the most harm to her fellow troopers, then ejected the spent magazine and set it aside, reloading her weapon and then laying it against the wall to rest for now. It wouldn't do to use up all her ammunition before she was called upon for support.

In the meantime, she continued to spot and mark enemy positions for her allies, making notes in her NAV data on firing lanes and objects that could be used as windage guides. While it was true her attached electronics suite did all the necessary calculations, she always prepared herself with the traditional methods in the event of software failure. As she observed the embattled city, she spotted an enemy barracks and resupply facility that had escaped the initial bombardment from the _Pious Inquisitor_. She thought it a good idea to remove that facility.

Setting the target detector laser of her spotter macrobinoculars onto a collection of methane tanks, she commed, "_Yamato_ Fire Control, Alpha-Six-Four. Request fire mission on enemy position lazed on my signal."

It only took a moment to get a response: _"Fire mission confirmed, Alpha-Six-Four. Rounds incoming. Enjoy the fireworks."_

High overhead, fire blossomed from one of the underside MAC stations of the super carrier, propelling a quartet of bus-sized tungsten slugs down at the target. Cynthia watched the first one slam into the methane tanks, the force of the impact detonating them and beginning to set the surrounding parts of the facility ablaze. The remainder of the rounds slamming into the base snuffed out the fires before they could really even start, leaving naught but tiny bits of Covenant structures in their wake.

"Rounds on target, Fire Control," she reported. "Ground targets eliminated."

"_Alpha-Twelve-One to any sniper team,"_ the battlenet buzzed. _"We are pinned down by hostile sniper and heavy weapons fire from the shopping mall approximately one klick east of the St. Ursula high school. Any support would be appreciated."_

"_Request received, Alpha-Twelve-One,"_ Linda answered immediately. _"Beginning counter-sniper fire."_

Grabbing her rifle and two box clips, Cynthia moved to the opposite corner of the tower and locked the bipod of her weapon down, tucking the stock into her shoulder and sighting. Faint vapor trails from the cliffs showed that Linda was already killing targets. Spotting an emplaced plasma cannon firing relentlessly into the unseen marines from the second floor balcony of the mall. She settled the red targeting circle over the storage cell for the plasma energy, took a moment to steady, and fired. One full second later, the heavy weapon exploded spectacularly, killing the gunner and rendering the plasma cannon useless to the enemy.

Through her scope, she could see a brute ordering around a jackal sniper, making vague gestures in her direction. She first slotted the jackal, then focused her deadly gaze upon the brute itself, its energy shield all but powerless to prevent her shot from leaving a life-venting hole in the temple of its helmet. Other brutes and grunts scattered from the highly-accurate fire, but she ignored them, as they were not the greater threat at the moment.

"_We've got positions on most of the snipers and have 'em marked for you,"_ Alpha-Twelve-One reported as tiny red arrows appeared on the locations of the snipers. _"If you take those out, we can deal with the heavy weapons ourselves."_

A number of the snipers were out of her direct line of sight, but she had a solution to that as well. Before the drop, Chao had installed a program into her electronics that combined two pieces of technology she had once given to her ancestor to allow her to hit targets she didn't have line of sight on. Five hundred years ago, it had been the addition of a smart optical laser that would show Mana Tatsumiya where shots she fired would go once they bounced off of an object, which worked alongside a thermal imager that allowed her to see targets hidden behind cover. The new program that Chao had designed combined both of those functions into a software upgrade intended to function with the sniper attachment for ODST electronics.

Cynthia activated this program, watching the red line that projected into her field of vision waver and move as she centered the targeting dot on distant objects. After a few moments to get herself comfortable with the program, she angled her sighting to bounce a round into a sniper that otherwise would've enjoyed full cover from her.

She didn't physically see the result of her first use of the system, but radio chatter told her all she needed to know: _"Holy shit!"_ one of the Helljumpers from Alpha-Twelve blurted. _"That sniper just banked that shot off the building over there and blew that damn alien's chest out!"_

The sniper allowed a moment's smirk to cross her features beneath her helmet. She hadn't honestly expected that to work. Locating the next hidden sniper, she adjusted the angle of her ricochet carefully, and drew back on her trigger.

* * *

_Chao  
__Mahora Tram Station, En Route to Mahora Academy  
__Fifty minutes after drop_

The air overhead shrieked as a superheated globule of plasma passed through the space, slamming to the ground somewhere on the far side of the station. The station itself sizzled as repeating plasma fire from the pintle defense turrets splashed against the outer walls of the building, slowly melting their way through to the ODSTs and marines taking shelter within.

"Alpha-Six under attack by hostile armor at the tram station just outside Mahora Academy," Alysia reported over the comms. "We count a minimum of four Wraiths, supported by Ghosts. Requesting immediate support, over."

"_Alpha-Six, a task force from the 506__th__ Armored was deployed near your position,"_ one of the tactical coordinators on the _Yamato_ responded. _"They should reach your position in a few minutes."_

"We ain't got a few minutes!" Chihiro yelled off the battlenet from inside a security station. "Those Wraiths almost got us zeroed!"

"_Alpha-Six-One, Crusader Three-One,"_ a new voice called. _"We've got your location set, coming in at angels four, splash is inbound."_

"Air support?" Chihiro laughed aloud and pumped a fist. "Man, I don't think I've ever thought of Hornets as such big, beautiful bastards in my life!"

As the seconds passed and more plasma fire streaked ever closer, a high-pitched flat whine started to build over the background noise of the battle. Leaning out of her cover, Chao looked back toward the lake, the direction the sound was coming from, and spotted a pair of aircraft that she didn't immediately recognize. Whatever they were, she could tell by their profile that they weren't Hornets or even the Hawk gunships that the UNSC frequently utilized for close-air support. As they drew closer, she could see that they sported sleek central frames, large engines mounted high on the back of the craft, wide-extending wings, and a tall pair of outset vertical stabilizers on the tail. As she watched, a solid, steady cloud of smoke began to emit from the noses of the aircraft.

Not even a second later, the entire column of enemy armor disappeared in a cloud of smoke as thousands of 30mm depleted uranium penetrator rounds engulfed the Covenant vehicles. The noise of the guns firing finally caught up with a squad a few moments later, sounding all the world like a protracted fart.

The attacking aircraft soared over the tram station and the streets beyond just barely above rooftop level, breaking formation in two separate directions with a number of Banshees in hot pursuit, dropping glowing red flares to throw off the semi-homing capabilities of the Banshees' fuel rod cannons.

Finally, the smoke cleared, revealing absolute carnage in the wake of the strafing run. Even with their advanced construction material and heavy armoring, the Wraiths were no match for the power of a sustained barrage from heavy penetrator rounds. The end result of the attack had the Wraiths looking like they'd been put through a paper shredder in two separate angles. Of the Ghosts that had accompanied the armored vehicles, there was nothing left.

"_Splash confirmed, Alpha-Six,"_ Crusader Three-One reported, not at all sounding distressed at being chased by Covenant fliers. _"Good hunting."_

The whine of the fighters' engines died out as they moved on, still leading the banshees on a merry chase. Far to Chao's left, Alysia stood, observing the area ahead of them, then stepped forward out of the tram station. Nothing moved to attack her, so she turned back toward the squad and ordered, "Let's go. The academy's just ahead."

The rest of the team broke cover of the tram station and started up the street. Buildings lined the street, everything from apartments to business complexes, most of them heavily damaged by the constant fighting. Despite this, the group kept their eyes out for any sign of aliens hiding in the wrecked buildings as they passed.

At the left edge of the street, Chao strode slowly toward the academy, four of her funnel lasers whispering silently through the air behind her. Mahora had changed a great deal in five hundred years, but enough of the original spirit of the city remained to generate a wave of nostalgia for the fire mage. How many times had she fought for this city in one form or another now? She'd been on all sides, having fought to conquer it at Mages vs. Mars, and having fought to defend it at least twice in the past, and now fighting to liberate it. She smirked at the irony, closing her eyes for just a moment.

It was in that moment that a jackal sniper, hiding in a blown-out department store, chose the unarmored human in the group of passing humans as its first target. Cheryl spotted it as it lined up its beam rifle for the killing shot, but knew she wouldn't get her own weapon on target in time. "Chao!" she shouted in warning, knowing that it was already too late.

The jackal fired, its beam rifle drawing an instant purple line between itself and Chao, but the beam passed through a fading afterimage of where she had been, striking the pavement harmlessly. Highly confused and agitated at this turn of events, the jackal looked around amongst the humans to see where its target may have hidden, only to hear the scrape of a boot behind it. It turned, and found its target now standing behind it, a chromed pistol in hand and pointed directly at its face.

"You chose poorly-_ne_," Chao said, then emotionlessly shot the alien in the face. Making her way back down to the street, she held the M6D down by her left hip, and the weapon vanished into the hammerspace storage unit of her armor.

"Heh, that's the power of the Cassiopeia," Chihiro commented.

Smirking, Chao answered, "Not the Cassiopeia-_yo_. Don't forget that I was one of the Chosen Heroes. My unique powers were that of a temporal mage. I haven't needed to use a Cassiopeia in…well, a long time-_ne_."

Before Chihiro or any of the others could respond, the squad's frequency squawked out, _"Alpha-Six, be advised, hostile forces detected in your vicinity. Unknown number, large, from an underground parking garage ahead, and at least ten Phantoms inbound your position. Looks like they really don't want to give up the academy."_

"Roger, Ghost Eye," Alysia answered the combat controller, scowling in distaste. "Thanks for the update."

"_Alpha-Six, if you can hold up for a few minutes, I'm inbound with support,"_ Kelly called.

Nodding her head, Alysia gestured with her free hand for the squad to hold position. They split up into two groups, moving to either side of the wide street and entering the nearest buildings: an apartment complex for the group consisting of Chao, Chihiro, and Alysia, and a fueling station for Akio, Cheryl, and Johnathan. "Copy, Sierra-Zero-Eight-Seven," Alysia responded. "We'll leave the light on for you."

The squad waited, bunkered down in their separate buildings. Alysia's group crept through the apartment building and ensured it was clear, one room at a time. After confirming that they were the building's only occupants, they planted IFF-coded antipersonnel mines at the entrances, rigged to detonate if a non-friendly IFF passed their detection grid, and made their way up to the top floor of the complex, entering a room that overlooked the academy proper.

A sobering sight awaited them.

Mahora Academy had been turned into a literal staging ground for the Covenant. Heavy defensive emplacements ringed the building, enough to turn the large open courtyard and the wide street leading up to it into an unrelenting killing zone. From what they were able to see, thousands of Covenant troops were garrisoned in the area, and it looked like they were organizing a counterattack. Dozens of Banshees, Wraiths, Ghosts, Choppers, and Prowlers sat idle, undergoing armament or maintenance in preparation for use. The pace of activity was low, so the assault wasn't going to begin immediately. There would be time for reinforcements to show up.

The other team obviously also was taking the opportunity to scout the enemy, for Cheryl's voice crackled over the squad frequency, _"Uhh, guys, we have a problem. A real big problem. Piping visual through now."_

Alysia removed her helmet and held it in a position so that both she and Chao could see the images that Cheryl was sending to them. Next to them, Chihiro cursed loudly. Chao made a face, and Alysia felt sick to her stomach.

In the near corner of the courtyard, hidden from Alysia's team due to the size of the buildings in the way, the heavy plasma beam projector at its head pivoting lazily back and forth, sat a purple-hulled Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform.

"We're in for one wild night," Chao deadpanned.


	11. Our Land, Their Blood

**Our Land, Their Blood**

_The Squad  
__Abandoned Apartment Complex Near Mahora Academy  
__One hour after drop_

"The Scarab is priority one. It has to die before they're even aware that we're here, or we're all dead."

No one argued the point.

On the top floor of the building, a portable holoprojector was set up displaying the entrenched Covenant positions. The focus of the floating image was the crouching, currently inactive Scarab, butted up against the side of another apartment complex three buildings down from the currently-inhabited one. Gathered around the strategy meeting were the members of Three-Alpha-Six; except for Cynthia; Chao, Kelly, Fred, Lucy, and Chachazero. Two other squads of ODSTs and thirty marines were scattered throughout the building, keeping watch on the enemy and guarding the entrances to their building.

"The best entry point is here," Fred remarked, pointing to where one of the legs of the Scarab had smashed through the building it was resting against, disappearing inside the wrecked structure. "We can get aboard from the leg, slip down inside it, and take out the reactor that way."

Chihiro observed the hologram intently, pacing around it to get a full view of the most imposing enemy target on the field. "That's certainly the quickest way, but doing it like that will skyline us to the enemy."

"You have another idea?" Kelly asked, sincerely rather than cynically.

He nodded and stopped at the rear of the projection, facing the backside of the Scarab and the building it butted up against. "They've got no guards back here, no defenses," he said, pointing to the corner of the building nearest the Scarab, only a ten meter distance. "It's sitting a bit off the ground, so we send in everybody who can fly by any means. They take out the crew nice and quiet-like, then no more Scarab."

"Bold," Johnathan appraised. "They won't expect that."

Fred nodded in agreement. "Very well, we'll do it that way. The assault force will consist of…" He looked around, taking in who was wearing thruster packs and who wasn't. "Lucy, Chihiro…"

"I can fly," Akio pointed out, knowing that Fred wasn't aware of exactly what he was.

"So can I, with my artifact," Johnathan added.

At this, Cheryl shook her head. "No, that'd be more suited for a direct assault against the enemy, rather than sneaking around on the Scarab." She looked toward the Chinese fire mage. "Chao, you've got an anti-gravity unit on your armor, don't you?"

She nodded. "But I can also use my temporal powers to blink-step onto the Scarab as well-_ne_. I'll go with the infiltration team as well."

Fred looked around, waiting to see if anyone else would speak up, then said, "Very well, that's our Scarab team. Lucy, Murakami, Sakurazaki, and Lingshen."

Seated on Lucy's shoulder, the marionette Chachazero bloodthirstily remarked, "Ahh, more throats to cut!" as the puppet rocked back and forth, scissoring the twin combat knives together in anticipation.

Fred didn't even bat an eye at the psychotic puppet, instead continuing, "The rest of us will get into position to start our assault as soon as the Scarab threat is removed. Linda, Rivale, you two still there?"

"_Despite their best efforts,"_ Cynthia dryly responded.

"_Read you, Blue One,"_ Linda answered.

"Right, I'm going to need you two to pick off as many of the heavy emplacement weapons as you can as soon as you see that Scarab go off. We can handle a lot of the vehicles on the ground ourselves, but those heavy weapons are going to be what kills us."

"_Don't worry, we've got you covered,"_ Linda assured.

Alysia reached forward to the controls of the holographic plate, zooming the view out to show a wider area. "That convoy of armor from the 506th is still inbound, and a Sangheili assault force is making their way toward us. They should be here by the time we've neutralized the Scarab, so we'll have a sizable assault force to take the academy with."

"Not exactly fair, is it?" Akio asked, chuckling, as he crossed his arms.

Fred looked at him a bit funny. "Maybe forty of us and six tanks against over a hundred mixed Covenant vehicles, a heavily-fortified building, and over a thousand ground troops? No, I wouldn't exactly call that fair."

The half-demon grinned. "I meant not fair for _them_."

Chuckling, the Spartan nodded and picked up his assault rifle. "Yeah, today's a bad day to be an alien."

"Alien basterd," Chihiro corrected off-hand, loading a new clip of needles into his needle rifle.

"Either way, dead is still dead," Johnathan said as Alysia switched off the holoprojector and the group split up to their separate taskings.

The infiltrator quartet waited for the others to head toward the front of the building, then made their way down a rear stairwell toward the back. Chihiro stepped out first into the alley, sweeping either direction with his needle rifle. Finding it clear, he stalked purposely forward, moving slowly and methodically in case a threat showed itself. Chao, Lucy, and Akio moved into the alley behind him, maintaining an omnidirectional awareness and range of firepower should any be needed.

As they moved, a pair of Banshees hurtled over the alley at rooftop level, the gravity pods mounted to their wingtips screaming in overboost as they moved to some distant engagement. In the relative quiet of the alley, the quartet could hear the distant roar of jet engines, both of the kind from the aircraft that the Crusader pilots had flown and of a distinct pitch that they didn't recognize.

"_This is Steel Gunner,"_ the platoon commander of a unit of Scorpions reported over the battlenet. _"We're going to take back our spaceport. Ravens, we could sure use some cover."_

According to data scrolling over the HUDs of the Spartan and two troopers, Steel Gunner was a tank platoon assigned to the 506th, as would be every other Scorpion on the field, all deployed from the _Yamato_. Raven was the fighter squadron aboard the ship, while Crusader was the ground attack aircraft squadron whose pilots had helped the squad earlier.

Calling up more information to overlay in transparency over his direct view ahead, Chihiro remarked, "Man, Crusaders, those guys were flying A-10s. A-10s are ancient as all hell. Like, 21st century stuff, man."

"Colonel's got a taste for antiques," Akio responded, carefully scanning the back windows of the buildings along the right side of the alley.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Chachazero pointed out, sitting on top of Lucy's helmet and idly observing the group's surroundings.

"I saw many A-10s in action during the Unification War-_ne_," Chao added, turning backwards occasionally to watch their rear. "As ground support aircraft, they're devastatingly-effective, and now even moreso since Evangeline has modified them with my 'hammerspace' system to give them effectively-unlimited ammunition-_yo_."

"Heheh, the air force is gonna be busy then," Chihiro murmured, flipping his visor over to threat assessment to be alerted to any Covenant surprises left in the alley.

"_The enemy Phantoms are turning,"_ Cynthia reported. _"Must be diverting elsewhere. The capitol sector's getting rolled with a big mechanized force from the 506__th__ and Delta Company, so they're probably heading there."_

"_Copy, Four,"_ Alysia responded. _"Keep us updated."_

Approaching the end of the alley, Chihiro slowed his pace to a crawl and pressed himself up against the back wall of the building, moving ever more carefully now that they were nearly to their objective. He stopped just short of where the corner of the building had collapsed under the Scarab's leg, and the others stacked up on him. Slipping a fiber optic cable out of a pouch in his armor, he snaked the device around the corner and observed the enemy heavy armor.

"Yep, figures. They've got a grunt on the back plasma cannon, and he seems to be paying attention. Any ideas?"

"I'll handle it-_yo_," Chao said, then vanished in a static flicker.

A moment passed, then Akio reached out his left hand and poked at the air where her shoulder would've been had she simply turned on an active camouflage unit. "Nope, she's really gone," the _hanyou_ pronounced.

It was only a moment more before the fire mage's voice crackled over their radios, _"Back ramp clear-_yo_. Move up."_

Stepping out of the corner, Chihiro aimed his rifle down the side of the building to cover the others as they made the short dash to the Scarab. He waited until the green acknowledgment light flashed in his HUD, then stood from his crouch and ran into the massive weapon's shadow. The deck was level with his chest, and so he tossed his weapon up to Chao, then pulled himself up and onto the enemy vehicle. As he rolled back to his feet, he glanced down at the dead grunt that had manned the plasma cannon, its head nearly severed by whatever Chao had done to it, luminous blue blood pooling on the deck.

"We're aboard," he reported back over the battlenet as Chao passed him back the needle rifle. "Stand by."

Lucy stood by the ramp, covering it with her assault rifle. Lifting her off-hand from the weapon, she gestured to her visor, pointed up the ramp, then shook her head. No contact, and no idea of hostile force strength. She tapped her own chestplate, then nodded her head up toward the ramp as she replaced her hand on her weapon.

Nodding in response to her offer to go up top, Chihiro then turned to Chao, pointing to her, then himself, then down toward the command center of the Scarab, currently protected by an energy shield. She nodded, and then Akio made an 'over-the-top' gesture with his left hand to indicate that his plan was to fly up to the upper deck from outside, to catch any hostiles up there in a flank between him and Lucy.

As Chao and Chihiro moved down to deal with the shield, and Lucy and Chachazero crept up the ramp, Akio moved back toward the edge of the bay, slinging his battle rifle up to rest vertically up his spine. With a murmured key phrase, he unsealed his demonic side, his wings bursting out through specially-designed openings in his armor with a whisper of ruffled feathers. "_Mea Ensis_," he deadpanned, holding his right hand out to his side. It was only a few moments before _Yuunagi_ found its way into his hand from wherever it had been left waiting.

Now properly armed, he launched himself up with a single downbeat of his wings, lifting himself up to the middle deck of the Scarab, its armor-protected reactor core off his left. The grunt manning the plasma cannon spotted him, and as it swung its turreted weapon around toward him, he launched forward, impaling the creature's throat at the tip of his blade and shoving it backwards off the weapon even as he himself landed squarely on the deck.

Ahead, a brute looking in his direction snarled and reached for its weapon, but a body-check from Lucy slammed it against the hull of the Scarab, where Chachazero descended upon it from above, blades first. Blue-red blood splashed across the deck as the murderous puppet carved out a significant chunk of its throat, and then Lucy threw it to the deck, leaving it to die slowly as she nudged its weapon away with her boot.

He pulled his blade from the dead grunt, flicking his wrist to free it of the alien's luminous blue blood, and turned to walk around the rear of the second deck to reach the other side. A jackal coming around the opposite corner reared back in shock, then started to bring its plasma pistol into line. Akio rolled forward as soon as he saw it, coming up in a seated crouch within reach. His left arm shoved its shield aside as his right drove _Yuunagi_ halfway down its length into the alien's chest.

Jackals always came in pairs or more. He rose up quickly, kicking the dead or dying alien from his blade in time for a bolt of plasma to strike his chestplate. The magically-treated armor withstood the shot, but he knew that the protection offered was limited. Behind the jackal was another brute, this one armed with a plasma rifle. _That_ weapon would surely shred through his armor, magical enhancement or not. As the brute raised its weapon toward Akio and the jackal, not even caring that it was just as likely to hit its subordinate, Lucy dove onto its back, gripping the side of its helmet as she drew her knife with her other hand, the blade glinting in the afternoon light. At the same time, Chachazero dashed past the brute, drawing her own not-inconsiderable blades back behind her as she leapt up and slammed into the back of the jackal's head, amplifying her own laughable mass with inertia to bear it to the ground. She raised her blades and spun them to face down, then impaled the back of the jackal's skull with them.

This particular brute was proving tougher than the average alien, its frantic pitching motions in an attempt to dislodge Lucy preventing her from sinking her knife into any of its sweet spots. Numerous slash and partial stab wounds tattooed its throat, the right side of its helmet bearing an equal number of blade scars, testament to her efforts to down the beast. Finally, it managed to get one meaty paw onto the arm she was holding onto it with, wrenching her free and turning to toss her over the side of the Scarab. It continued facing that direction in order to watch her fall, a fatal mistake.

Jumping over Chachazero and the dead jackal, Akio struck at the brute's knees, the wide sweep of _Yuunagi_ biting into flesh unprotected, hamstringing the beast. As it dropped to its knees, he spun the blade in his grip to reposition it, then drove it forward, piercing the back of its neck and continuing on to burst out of the front of its throat. Just as swiftly, he ripped his blade free, spilling blood and gore over the deck, then turned to see that Lucy had managed to halt her freefall with her jetpack, and was now rising back up to the middle deck.

"Top deck secure," the _hanyou_ reported into the radio.

"_Copy,"_ Chihiro answered. _"We've breached and cleared the control room. Stand by."_

In the silence that ensued, the trio moved back to the core area of the Scarab, dragging the bodies with them to conceal their presence from the enemy still on the ground. From their vantage point, they had a clear view across the bowl-shaped terrain that was the city of Mahora, giving them a cross-section of the massive battle being waged. Smoke from fires and explosions hung in the air over the city, casting a pall cloud broken by the distant tiny forms of allied and enemy aircraft, both dueling with one another and attacking targets on the ground. One of the fighters from Raven Squadron, a design unknown to Akio, peeled out of the smoke cloud toward an oncoming group of a dozen Banshees. Even given the speed advantage of the human fighter, the numbers game didn't look to be a good one.

Then the upper surface of the fighter rippled, and a dozen brilliantly-blazing missiles shot into the sky, arcing around and seeking out their targets in the enemy formation. The missiles reached the Banshees as the fighter began to pull away to find other targets, the projectiles needing no further direction from the originating fighter. Even the vaunted maneuverability of the Covenant Banshee could not save them from the missiles, which detonated within close proximity, each missile unleashing a deadly cloud of shrapnel haze to rip through the light frames of the enemy fliers.

Another of the human fighters screamed over the cityscape over the Covenant lines, provoking heavy anti-aircraft fire from plasma turrets, shades, and anti-air Wraiths far too cumbersome to properly track the speedy craft. Both the top and bottom of this fighter rippled, and three dozen missiles erupted from its frame, looping and spiraling through the skies to strike thirty-six individually-designated targets ranging from vehicles to emplacements to aircraft.

A column of Scorpions moved to take advantage of the opening left in the wake of the fighter's attack, the roar of their cannons little more than muffled popping sounds from where Lucy and Akio watched on the Scarab. Ninety millimeter tungsten penetrator and canister anti-infantry shells shredded what vehicular opposition remained, and was no kinder to any buildings which the enemy sought to use for cover. An ashen dust cloud soon filled the street, hiding the armor and infantry advance from further observation.

Several streets over, a large number of grunts and jackals led by a number of brutes made their way parallel to the armored assault, seeking to swing around behind the tanks and strike the task force from the rear. It soon became apparent that such a thing was anticipated, as from the buildings surrounding the street, dozens of rockets struck down into the Covenant ranks, decimating their assault force. Small-arms fire followed on the heels of the rocket strike, mopping up whatever troops remained that were not slain by the high explosives.

Beneath their feet, the deck of the Scarab rumbled as its reactor and engines came online, this interrupting any further observation of the distant battle as the Scarab began to lift into its upright assault position. Akio turned away from the battle, automatically raising a hand to press against the side of his helmet, an instinct action that knowledge of internal radios did nothing to deter. "Six, the Scarab is moving," he deadpanned.

"_Thank you for the confirmation,"_ came the equally-deadpan response.

"_Steel Gunners here, we're making steady progress. Just a little more to Yokota-Narita Air Force Base."_

"_All Coalition forces targeting Mahora Academy, prepare to attack on my signal,"_ Chihiro announced over the general comms.

By now, the Covenant forces in the courtyard and streets were starting to respond to the actions of the rogue Scarab. Forces nearest it began to pull back in fearful uncertainty. They, better than most, knew of the walker's sheer destructive power. Others looked on curiously, waiting to see what would happen.

The techno-specialist turned the small weapon of mass destruction toward the largest cluster of vehicles and charged the plasma beam. A shrill shrieking noise filled the air as the projector 'head' glowed a sickly green color. Many of the enemy still looked confused, but a significant amount of them now understood the situation and were beginning to brandish their weapons or retreat in alarm.

This did not go unnoticed by the human hijackers. _"Too late for that, alien bastards. All batteries fire!"_

A blinding flash lit the courtyard as the Scarab fired, the high-intensity plasma beam vaporizing half a dozen Banshees, a number of Wraiths and Ghosts, and countless repair and arming crews working on the vehicles. Several nearby methane tanks cooked off from the heat backlash, rocking the courtyard with tremendous explosions.

Now there was absolutely no question in the enemy's mind about what was going on. Plasma and spiker fire hammered the Scarab's flanks, doing absolutely nothing to its heavily-armored hull. Emplaced plasma and fuel rod turrets joined in the assault, likewise doing nothing to the vehicle, but posing a sincere threat to its occupants.

Diving behind the core wall as fuel rods impacted and burst all across the deck, Akio called over the radio, "Control, Alpha-Six-Five! We're pinned down by enemy fire! We need air support!"

Almost immediately, a familiar voice spoke, _"Flight Control, Crusader Three-One. We're in position to provide support, but a lot of the emplaced weapons are coming out of the academy. Requesting permission to engage on high-priority target."_

There was a lengthy delay in response, during which time Akio could see the paired A-10s that had saved them before circling high overhead, bristling with weapons and itching to unleash them on the enemy. Finally, Control's voice came back, _"Copy, Crusader Three-One, you are authorized one guns-only pass."_

"_Solid copy, Control. Alpha-Six, help is on the way."_

High overhead, the two A-10s heeled over into an inverted dive, leveling out just a few hundred feet above ground level and tracking the green globes of the fuel rods as their targeting point. Crusader Three-One switched his weapons control over to the lethal GAU-8 Avenger 30mm cannon, then bracketed the thickest concentration of turrets in the gun sights that came up on his heads-up display. The sights passed over the Scarab, and his finger twitched slightly on the trigger, years of war almost causing him to fire on the stolen enemy vehicle on instinct. Finally, as the academy drew closer and the HUD indicated optimal firing range, he reported, _"Guns, guns, guns,"_ and tightened up on the trigger.

Smoke issued immediately from the nose of the aircraft, followed by what looked no less than a molten stream of fire drawing a line from the plane to the building below. Due to the direction of approach, the line of 30mm rounds chewed a diagonal swath of destruction across the face of the school, obliterating brick and mortar, glass, weapon emplacements, and enemy troops with equal ferocity. A third of the school's face disappeared in a dust and debris cloud.

As the tracking sights cleared the roof of the school, Three-One pulled out of his shallow dive over the courtyard at rooftop level, the whine of his engines drawing some of the aliens' attention, and their fire, ineffectually skyward.

Behind him, Crusader Three-Two made a straight-on approach, taking a deeper angle of approach to increase the enemies caught in the affected area. _"Guns, guns, guns,"_ the pilot called, initiating his assault. A dozen aliens died before they ever realized what was descending upon them, reduced to a fine meat paste by the heavy anti-armor rounds. The carnage chewed its way across the left side of the courtyard, splitting a landed Phantom in half, slaughtering dozens of infantry, and then rising its way up the side of the building. Plasma and fuel rod batteries exploded violently, their detonations setting off chain reactions all across the building front.

Passing over the courtyard, Crusader Three-Two turned into a gentle arc away from the battlefield. In the chaos below, a brute war chieftain shouldered its fuel rod gun and fired into the A-10's path. The explosive burst against the left engine, chewing half of its underside and causing it to flame out. But to the alien's consternation, the aircraft merely dipped slightly in altitude with no discernible loss of control and continued on its way, smoke trailing from its left side as it dropped flares to dissuade any further guided missiles.

The response to the war chieftain's attempted shoot-down of the A-10 was swift and harsh. An extreme range sniper shot, whether from Cynthia or Linda unknown, tore through the temple of its helmet, overpowering its shield in an instant and expending the last of its momentum inside the alien's skull. Nerve twitches caused it to pull the trigger of the fuel rod gun, a globe exploding at its feet and sending its body pitching through the air.

"_Passes complete,"_ Crusader Three-One reported. _"Merry Christmas, Alpha-Six."_

"_Copy, confirmed numerous splashes,"_ Cynthia responded. _"I see lots of little pieces. Good kills."_

Following behind Fred, Kelly stepped out of the apartment complex and looked toward the courtyard, watching the flames of burning vehicles rising into the sky from the softening attack by the attack planes. Fred turned and nodded back to her, and the Spartans took off running, sprinting toward the battlefield as Fred called into the battlenet, "Don't let 'em recover! Press the advantage and attack!"

All around them, the ODSTs and Marines that had been lying in wait now surged forward, war cries and shouts of encouragement to their fellows, and invectives against their enemies, rising above the cacophony of rifles and running feet, of screaming plasma and alien roars. But even in their eagerness, the humans were not stupid, moving from one obstacle to another, providing covering fire for their comrades, and using the haze of smoke filling the courtyard to screen their movements. The enemy met them, grunts and jackals waddling forward as the brutes attempted to suppress the charging humans. All around them, the air was thick with energy and projectiles, surely suicidal to plunge through.

Her breath rang harsh in her ears as Kelly sprinted forward, outpacing Fred within seconds and swiftly approaching the front of the humans' lines. A Marine slid into cover behind a concrete bench as she approached, leaning up to fire his assault rifle over it as she passed. Ahead, a pillar of smoke shifted and a grunt armed with a fuel rod cannon that had been targeting her collapsed under the sustained fire of the Marine, spinning backwards and sending its weapon rolling away.

To her left, she glimpsed Alysia body-checking a brute to the ground, light glinting from her upraised combat knife before she had to divert her attention away. A standing ODST beside Alysia, emptying his Magnum into an unshielded brute, tracked through her field of vision. A glancing plasma bolt flickered her shield, drawing her attention forward in time to see a jackal planted in her path, shield and pistol aimed at her. Even as she tracked it with her assault rifle, a jagged shard of ice shot from practically nowhere and impaled its skull. Without missing a step, she vaulted the dying alien, her already-aligned assault rifle chewing away at the shield sphere of a brute captain. Two Marines in cover added their fire to hers, shredding the alien officer in the span of the time it took her to reach it.

Overhead, the shrill shriek of the Scarab charging its plasma cannon filled the air. She looked up at the mobile death platform towering above her, its bulk shadowing her from the sun as the plasma emitter's glow reached a sickly pinnacle. Interrupting her sprint only for the sake of saving her skin, she dove underneath the still-hot remnants of the Phantom as the Scarab fired and spent coolant gel splashed to the ground on all sides of her cover. The only purpose of the coolant gel was to keep the emitter of the cannon from melting due to the absurdly-high temperature of the plasma beam. The coolant, superheated by absorbing heat that would otherwise melt the cannon, vented beneath the Scarab every time it fired.

Heat and radiation sensors in her armor redlined from the surrounding presence of the coolant, but as soon as the fusillade had ceased, she leaped clear over the pool nearest her and angled toward the enemy once more, her boots finding traction on the cobblestone and pavement. Briefly overlaying a transparent map of the courtyard over her HUD, she was dismayed to find that they had only crossed one-fourth of the distance, but she shoved that thought aside and pressed on. To her right, she saw a Marine and an ODST scrambling to get away from the glowing blue ball of a plasma grenade that had landed in front of them. The Helljumper pushed the Marine down, imposing his or her own body in between the Marine and the explosive, and was hurled bodily into the air by the blast.

Shifting her weight, she turned herself in the direction of her stricken comrades, reaching the two as the Marine rolled onto his knees and pushed back up to his feet, visibly stunned by the explosion as training and instinct took over, prompting him to grab a shoulder strap of the ODST and haul the injured or dead man away from the front lines. Kelly grabbed the Helljumper's other shoulder strap and added her considerable strength to the effort. The Marine looked up, and the awe at seeing a living Spartan not only in person, but coming to his aid, was written all over his face. Together, they pulled the fallen trooper behind the wreckage of a collapsed building, and Kelly immediately stood and fired her assault rifle into a pair of grunts that had attempted to follow them.

"Go on, ma'am!" the Marine said to her, prompting her to glance toward him. She could see blood streaming down the sides of his head from beneath his helmet, indicating that his eardrums had probably been blown out by the explosion. "I've got it from here!"

Nodding, she grabbed his shoulder for a moment, then stood up to resume her sprint. A Marine stopped running thirty feet ahead of her and sprayed fire from his assault rifle indiscriminately at a cluster of grunts to the side. Before she could chastise him, a fuel rod shot struck him in the torso, incinerating the doomed man. She spotted the offending alien, a brute war chieftain, and noted with satisfaction that Lucy was descending upon the unsuspecting alien bastard from above, combat knife in hand.

The squelch of her fellow Spartan's dynamic entrance went unheard over the noise of the combat. A few dozen feet away, the swordsman Akio landed on another brute's head, crushing its skull as he rolled forward into a crowd of enemies to disperse the impact. She saw his blade flash, and a dozen lesser aliens collapsed to the ground, mortally drawn. A nearby brute roared in anger, only to be silenced by an upstroke of _Yuunagi_.

"_Who's next!"_ she heard Johnathan demand over the comms, but didn't look back to see what act of curb-stomping had prompted that remark from the big man.

"_Let's not tempt fate like that,"_ Cheryl's voice responded.

Ahead, she watched a grunt throw down its plasma pistol and pull out a pair of plasma grenades, but just as it had primed them, before it could charge toward either her or Akio, its head and upper body disappeared in a crimson mist, spraying gore over its fellows as either Cynthia or Linda took it down with extreme prejudice. The headless body collapsed to the ground in the midst of its fellows, the twin detonation of its grenades obliterating the lot of them.

Akio charged directly through the dying explosions, the Helljumper's helmet tipping in her direction as he passed, advancing on a pack of enemies that she had bypassed. She heard the folded steel sing as it struck down its alien foes behind her, Unggoy combat harnesses and Jiralhanae power armor alike useless against the legendary blade. A vehicle-sized red dot appeared behind her on her motion tracker, heading at high speed toward Akio, but a thunderclap later it disappeared, and bits and pieces of Ghost debris came skittering past her, giving an indication as to exactly what had happened.

What enemy heavy armor remained were focused on taking out the Scarab rather than combating infantry, and so Kelly shifted her weight again to head in the direction of the Wraiths, prepared to rip them apart by hand if necessary. As she ran, a panicking grunt crossed her path a dozen feet ahead, being guided by a maniacally-cackling Chachazero. Taken off-guard by the unusual sight, she tracked the marionette-guided alien as it careened wildly through its own ranks, shrieking comically all the way, and unknowingly allowing the murderous doll to hack a bloody trail of carnage through the otherwise-unsuspecting aliens.

She turned back in time to see a brute charging at her at full speed. It struck her before she could react, slamming her to the ground where it proceeded to attempt to wrench off her helmet to get at the squishy human bits inside. Swinging her head in constant motion to keep it from being able to get a good grip, she grabbed its meaty wrist in her right hand, and with her left snuck a solid punch into its jaw. The brute's head snapped back, and then as it came back down to roar at her, she reached down and twisted the arming mechanism on one of its spike grenades. Knowing exactly what she had done, the brute let up its pressure on her for an instant to look down at itself in horror. Seizing the opportunity, she drew in her legs and kicked out as hard as possible, shoving the brute back, and scrambled backwards on her hands. The spike grenade exploded, the razor-edged shrapnel ripping out the alien's midsection and sending the remaining halves slumping to the ground.

A horrid metallic screech filled the air, and she looked up to see the stolen Scarab teetering, its front left leg warped and burnt by sustained plasma fire. The heavy assault vehicle stumbled, nearly collapsing, and then Chihiro managed to stabilize it by balancing its weight amongst the three remaining legs, the vehicle's murderous gaze turning to the offending Wraiths as that _other_ shrieking howl rose above the plaza. _"Take that, bastards!"_ the overly-friendly Helljumper roared across some sort of broadcasting system, even as the Scarab unleashed its main weapon, vaporizing the offending Wraiths in an instant.

Almost as if in response, another Scarab beam struck the stolen unit, melting away the damaged leg and sending the vehicle crashing into the ground. Kelly tracked the beam to its source with her eyes, seeing another enemy Scarab crawling over the dormitory building that serviced the academy three-quarters of a mile away. Parts of the building had already caught on fire from the leaked coolant from the shot, even as the emitter glowed a sickly green, the aliens clearly taking exception to the theft of their vehicle.

"_Six, get out of there!"_ Alysia shouted over the comms. _"That thing's got you zeroed!"_

"_I'm not done yet!"_ the Helljumper answered, his voice strained, as his Scarab struggled to stand back up, to get pointed in the direction of the enemy unit. As he came up, a second shot from the enemy unit struck the rear of his own vehicle, melting away the armor plating that protected the reactor core and critically-compromising it in the process. The stolen Scarab let out a shriek akin to a dying animal and slammed into the ground, energy sparks cascading over its frame as its core ran through a wildcat destabilization. But now it was facing the enemy's Scarab.

"_Get out now, Six!"_

Kelly threw herself into a drainage ditch and gripped a bubble shield grenade, all too aware of the explosive power of a Scarab's reactor detonation, having been responsible for no small number of them herself. She raised her head, her position in the ditch allowing her to see the Scarab as more and more energy raced over it. Knowing the detonation to be imminent, she activated the bubble shield and slammed it to the ground, lowering her head again as the golden geodesic sphere of protection rose up around her.

"_JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!"_ Chihiro roared his defiance to the alien menace, firing one final shot at the enemy Scarab that had all available power diverted to it.

It was because of this power rerouting that the Scarab didn't detonate all at once as the UNSC personnel were used to seeing. The explosion went off in sequence, crawling its way forward from the reactor at the rear to the cannon at the front, chunks of armor and alien metal flying outward from the points of detonation. Through it all, the Scarab continued firing, though the explosions threw the beam off-target, causing it to cut its way across the enemy machine's flank, gouging deep scars into it, and then slicing through the roof of the building beneath it. The enemy vehicle's weight did the rest, collapsing the roof beneath it, sending it crashing down into the interior of the building.

At the same time, the explosions of the stolen Scarab reached its head, the final blast shattering the plasma cannon and cracking the remaining hull apart with a deafening thunder. Bits of superheated metal and shrapnel rained down in a wide spread around the destroyed unit, and for several moments, silence filled the battle.

The silence was broken by a raw scream of rage and anguish, one that chilled even the heartless Covenant where they stood. Standing upright, Kelly quickly located the source of the scream: the combat-mage Cheryl. She felt an extra shiver, recalling that this ODST had been the only survivor from the 105th at Jericho VII, she herself having been the one to recover the traumatized young woman. She knew that Cheryl had to be seeing that slaughter in her mind again. This was the worst possible time for a post-traumatic disorder to rear its ugly head.

"_You bastards have taken my comrades, my friends, and my family away from me,"_ the Helljumper hissed, across both the local battlenet and open comms so that the enemy could hear. An unnatural wind began to blow through the courtyard, and Kelly could feel the tug of magicka moving as well. That combined with the low, quietly-dangerous tone of Cheryl's words caused a little icy ball of fear to clench in the Spartan's guts. _"I won't let it happen anymore. You monsters will not take anyone else from me!"_

The diminutive ODST stood up from her cover, her designated marksman rifle left forgotten on the ground behind her as luminous yellow-white energy began to swirl around her open palms. "**To symbolaion diakoneto moi basileu Ouranionon**…"

The alien species of the Covenant knew nothing about magic, only that the humans they were fighting in this city could somehow turn the very elements of fire and ice and lightning against them, and that it was superbly-effective. They knew nothing of the mechanics of magic and spellcraft, of incanting and magic circles. But they didn't need to know any of that to know that the sight of a human standing in the open with glowing hands speaking a dead human language was not something that they should allow to happen. One brute officer was keenly aware of this fact, and roared an order to its underlings as it gestured toward the spellcasting ODST. It along with two other brutes and a dozen jackals and grunts focused their fire on the exposed mage, intending to burn her down where she stood.

Johnathan interposed himself between Cheryl and the incoming storm of alien weaponry in what, to the unwary observer, would appear to be a sacrificial act. However, the big man was holding a card in his left hand as he casually tossed his shotgun aside, and though he didn't transmit over the comms, Kelly knew that the only word to come out of his mouth would be _"Adeat."_ There was a flash of light, and a minor explosion from all that energy striking something.

When the smoke cleared, Cheryl remained unharmed, still casting her spell, and Johnathan was unmoved before her, a massive gunmetal-colored shield held in his left hand. The man's impassive helmet stared past it at the Covenant forces. _"Wouldn't be a very good _minister_ to let my _magistra_ get shot up like that, would I? My turn."_

The armored shield flashed and its form returned to that of a card, at which point he passed it to his right hand, and it flared again, changing shape once more, thinning and elongating. What came to pass looked no less than Johnathan had pulled the main cannon off of a Scorpion and was now wielding it as a support weapon. The weapon fired, rocking the ODST backwards with recoil, and the nest of Covenant that had fired at Cheryl promptly disintegrated in an explosion. Johnathan cranked back on the lever that he held in his right hand, and a spent shell casing the size of a suitcase ejected from the side of the cannon.

A glowing golden magic circle flared into life on the ground, with Cheryl at its center. Pulling her right hand back behind her and into a fist, a secondary sphere of magic runes formed around her hand, while her left, palm-out toward the enemy, crackled with lightning energy. "**Epigenentheto aithalous keraune os Titenas phtheirein**…" she continued, heedless of the giant target she was making herself.

Thunderous booms from Johnathan's cannon filled the air as he targeted pockets of the enemy, the noise masking the approach of a hammer chieftain that came around to the rear of the humans in an effort to take out the mage. Kelly charged the beast, pushing herself to the limits of her speed in order to reach the alien before it could harm her comrades. Halfway to it, a sniper shot struck it in the back of its skull, but its more-powerful shield took the shot, the kinetic energy imparted by the shot staggering it and giving her time to reach it.

She slammed into the chieftain at full-speed, her mass and acceleration force enough to knock it to the ground. Her right hand snapped out her combat knife, which she rose to drive down into the brute's throat, through its esophagus and spinal column, but the alien moved its head to the side to avoid the strike and grabbed her by the head with one meaty hand, tossing her off of it.

Rolling in midair to soften the blow and swiftly return to her feet, Kelly dropped into a combat stance and faced the chieftain, which rose slowly and gripped its hammer in one hand, a malignant smirk on its face as it relished the prospect of defeating a 'demon' in solo combat.

A number of Marines nearby took notice of her plight and opened fire on the chieftain in order to aid her, not suffering from the misgivings of honor before reason to let a Spartan armed only with a combat knife fight a hammer chieftain alone. Their combined fire illuminated the brute's shield but didn't come close to overloading it. Roaring in anger at being interrupted, the chieftain turned to deal with them, at which point Kelly charged. Gripping her knife in a reverse grip, she leapt up to grab onto the black horns of its armor, but the brute spotted her and powerfully backhanded her out of the air with its left hand, sending her smashing through a concrete bench adjacent to a fountain pool.

Stars danced before her vision and the shield bar in her HUD indicated that half her shield had been drained by that single blow. She heard a hammer discharge, saw a Marine's body fly, heard the others curse and break to get away from the rampaging alien, still hammering it with their assault rifles. Pushing herself up, she ignored the warning bells of the half-drained shield and shook her head to clear it, grabbing a chunk of the stone bench and hurling it at the brute's back to get its attention back on her.

Roaring at the impact, the chieftain turned to see that she was coming back toward him, and that malicious look appeared on its face again. It turned the hammer in its hand until the bladed backside would be the striking surface, then turned suddenly and swung the weapon laterally at one of the Marines. The man was too slow to react, and the blade caved in the side of his head, blood spraying into the air and coating the hammer. With the dead Marine still wedged to the blade of the hammer, the chieftain waved it about like a grim parody of a flag, obviously taunting the humans around it.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" one of the remaining Marines raged, slamming down the bolt of his reloaded assault rifle and charging the chieftain, screaming and unloading his weapon into the creature's chest as he did. The assault rifle clicked empty just as he reached it, and the man wasted no time putting his full weight and momentum behind the hammer blow of the assault rifle into the alien's chest.

Not even rocked by the hit, the chieftain wasted no time in grabbing the man off the ground, shaking him as would a dog with its prey. It then unleashed an animalistic roar and bit the man's throat out, crimson arterial spray fountaining into the air.

Hot rage the likes of which she'd never known flooded Kelly's entire body and she charged at the bastard alien, a wordless scream of rage and fury leading her charge. The chieftain tossed aside the dying Marine, then plucked the other one off its hammer and moved to meet her charge, swinging its hammer in a horizontal arc at her. She flipped up and over it, kicking the alien in the back of the skull as she passed over it, and landed squarely on the Marine that had been hit by the hammer, the uneven footing sending her tumbling to the ground.

Sensing her vulnerability, the chieftain turned slowly and chuckled, gloating over having the Spartan seemingly at its mercy. In that instant, Kelly's gaze fell on the dead Marine, her increased mental processes registering the gash torn into the side of the helmet, the way the man's head had been partially-flattened by the force of the blow even as the blade had carved open a wedge in his skull, revealing blood and brain matter within. Fury surged through her again, and she planted her left hand against the ground, pushing up and spinning to come into a low stance with her weight supported by her toes and left hand, right raised up behind her, almost like a one-handed pushup but far more deadly. She wanted nothing more than to rip that smug look right off the alien's face.

She screamed out again as she charged, right hand drawn back, intent on making pulp of the brute's head. It set its stance to meet her charge, drawing the hammer back in both hands like a baseball bat, and met her own scream of fury with a roar of its own, knowing and believing its own victory to be assured.

As she drew closer, Kelly felt her body begin to act independent of her control, the positioning of her hands and upper body changing as though she were armed with a long-bladed sword rather than her empty fists. Even as confusion set in, she reached the brute's range, saw the hammer swing down toward her, and saw a flash of light just before it hit. To her great shame, she felt herself flinch.

Warmth washed over her, warmth and a blinding light, and she knew she was dead. But she felt satisfied, knowing that her actions kept the brute away from Cheryl for a time, hopefully long enough for her to complete the spell. She found herself wishing there was some way she could look over the battle from wherever she was, to see what was going on. That spell had been in ancient Greek, and from what she knew of magic, that meant it would be one hell of a blast. She didn't want to miss it.

_You're not dead yet, girl!_ came a voice within her mind, so similar to her own and yet different enough to be noticeable. _Open your eyes!_

And so she did. She found herself staring down the brute chieftain, which now had a massive black steel blade shoved through its chest, the length of which she traced back to find held in her own hands. Its hammer was pressed against the side of the thick blade opposite her, her body having acted of its own accord to use the blade's size to both deal the killing blow and protect her from a counterattack.

But as she looked down at herself, she noticed in confusion that a ghostly form seemed to be overlaying hers; where she saw her own armored body, there was also a womanly form wearing a black dress in gothic Lolita style, and she could see long twin tails of red hair reaching down to her knees. A comm window flashed on in her HUD, displaying the grinning face of Evangeline. _"Well then, it seems that the power of your ancestor has finally awakened in you, Kelly-087. Or, perhaps it should be, Kelly Kagurazaka?"_

"What? My ancestor's…"

_Magic in the left hand,_ that voice whispered again. _Ki in the right. Combine them to form the perfect nothingness. _Kankahou_. The ultimate technique._

In the comm window, Evangeline was silent to observe her for a few moments, then remarked simply, _"Give those aliens hell, Imperial Twilight Princess."_

Kelly felt power, raw and primal, course through her body this time, focusing itself into either of her hands, which began to faintly glow, her left white, right black. Letting the black sword drop, its end still embedded in the brute chieftain, she slammed her gauntleted hands together, and an explosion of colorless energy engulfed her. Gripping the sword once more in her hands, she ripped it from the dead alien, spying a hunter pair nearby menacing a squad of Marines. Manhandling the sword to hold it behind her, she charged at the aliens, whose backs were toward her, unaware of her approach.

The first hunter fell with no warning, cleaved in half at the midsection by the legendary sword in Kelly's hands. Freeing a hand, she primed a grenade and shoved it into the collection of worms remaining in the upper set of armor, then stepped over it and turned her attention on the second hunter. The massive alien entity roared in anger and fury, turning away from the Marines and ignoring their fire into its back as it rushed Kelly, intent on smearing the human into the pavement. With a speed that its massive size belied, the hunter swung its shield up and then brought it down toward Kelly's head.

The massive black steel weapon rose to intercept, not so much stopping the hunter's shield as chopping it into two where the blade met. Overbalanced and taken off-guard by this, the hunter stumbled even as Kelly continued her momentum into a flowing spin, bringing the sword around into an uppercut that sheared the alien's fuel rod cannon, and accompanying arm, from the rest of the body. Volatile high-temperature incendiary gel flowed out of the compromised weapon, coating the hunter and immediately starting to melt away at the armor and the vulnerable worms underneath. Kelly jumped back to get clear of the gel, and stood watching as the heavy assault platform thrashed about, spraying more of the gel about even as it was burned alive, its pained roars echoing over the courtyard. The Marines it had been harassing approached cautiously, remaining well clear of the dying alien, their expressions varied as they observed the death of the hunter.

An electric tingle coursed up Kelly's spine, prompting her to raise her helmeted head marginally. She turned suddenly, yelling to the Marines, "Get down! Protect your ears!" even as she dropped and put her face to the concrete, turning the audio dampening in her helmet to its maximum power. The Marines, unsure of what was going on but knowing better than to question a Spartan, did as ordered, dropping to the ground and covering their ears beneath their helmets.

Without warning, the world seemed to explode in light and noise. Meter-thick thunderbolts rained down from the heavens, crushing down onto the part of the courtyard still occupied by the Covenant. The barrage continued for nearly a minute, bolts striking with such regularity as to sound like a single massive explosion. Heat and pressure washed over the allies, forcing them to shield their eyes from the blinding glow of so many hundreds of lightning strikes in a concentrated area.

Finally, the storm of magic destruction passed, breaking like the thunderstorm that it was, leaving silence and stillness in its wake, and an acrid ozone scent that filled the air. Kelly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, deafened by the thunder of such close proximity to the edge of that Thousand Bolts spell. A ringing sound filled her ears, through which she could hear snippets of radio chatter: _"…have recaptured Yokota-Narita Air Force Base!"_

"_Nice work, Steel Gunners!"_ Evangeline's voice responded. _"You've earned this victory."_

Even as her mind automatically filed that useful bit of information away, Kelly shakily stood and looked around her. Of the hundreds of Covenant and their vehicles and emplacements that had still been barring their path to the academy, nothing remained but a smoking, glass-crusted crater caused by the released energy of Cheryl's spell, one of the seven most destructive spells known to humankind. And though it was magic, its affects were not immune to the laws of physics, in particular the shock effect of a near-miss lightning strike to human physiology. Data scrolling across her HUD alerted to her that her left eardrum had ruptured, but the automated biofoam injectors had already sealed that injury.

Others weren't so lucky. The Marines she had saved from the hunters were still on the ground, hands gripped to ears as their faces contorted in agony, and she could see the blood from their shattered eardrums coating their gloved hands. She turned in a slow circle, and every Marine and ODST in sight was affected in some way. The ODSTs fared better than their Marine brethren, but even the black-armored shock troops were shaken by the noise of the magical display.

"_Control, this is Alpha-Six-One,"_ Alysia's voice broke through the static, subdued. _"We've secured the Mahora Academy courtyard and are preparing to enter the academy proper. Requesting resupply and casualty evacuation."_

"_Alpha-Six-One, this is Hotel One-Nine-Two, inbound your position with extra ammo. I'll take out as many of your wounded as I can on the way out."_

"_Much appreciated, One-Nine-Two."_

Across the courtyard, Johnathan cracked a smoke canister and tossed it into a street that ran parallel across the front of the courtyard. Thick green smoke issued into the air, marking a landing zone big enough for the Pelican to set down in. The next few minutes were spent corralling those too wounded to continue fighting to the pickup zone, and coercing those who did not believe they were too wounded to leave.

Kelly herself helped to get the three Marines near her to the extraction point. She chose not to simply lift them up and haul them bodily to where they needed to go, which she certainly would have been capable of given her superior strength. Instead, she drove her sword into the ground, leaned down, and grabbed the hand and wrist of the Marine nearest her, hauling the man to his feet and slinging his arm over her shoulder. She shifted around to bring her other side toward the next Marine, pulling him up and supporting his weight with hers as well. Together, she and the Marine on her left got the third standing, and together, the four of them crossed the blood-soaked and shell casing-ridden cobblestone and pavement to the landing zone.

As they arrived, the Pelican was already in sight, approaching the courtyard at rooftop level still a distance out. Cheryl, the very incarnation of destruction moments before, had completely reversed roles and was performing her role as a field medic, triaging the wounded soldiers on the spot and helping to settle disputes amongst those who didn't think they were too injured to continue fighting. Kelly led her Marines to the edge of the evacuation point, sitting them down against the railing that ran along the edge of the roadway. Scattered single shots of various weapons echoed across the courtyard as many of those still on their feet went around finishing off still-living enemies.

Kelly was still kneeling near the Marines as Alysia approached, the Helljumper wandering aimlessly through the battle area. The Spartan stood, interposing her considerable bulk into Alysia's path. As the ODST stopped and looked up at her, Kelly depolarized her golden visor at the same time she laid a hand on her comrade's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered through her helmet's external speakers. "For your trooper and your cousin."

Alysia shook her head awkwardly, and though her visor remained darkened, Kelly could see light refracting from moisture that she doubted was sweat on the inner surface of the visor. "No, I…" She looked away suddenly, turning toward the Pelican as it flared up over the landing zone, rotated to present its bay doors to the gathered wounded, and lowered itself slowly to the road.

The bay doors opened and the crew chief started shoving out crates filled with replenishment weapons and ammunition, which those on the ground quickly moved out of the way. With the offloading of supplies completed in under a minute, the focus turned toward cramming as many wounded aboard the dropship as possible. Leaving Alysia to cope in her own way, Kelly assisted her Marines in getting aboard the Pelican, securing them the last three spots in the already-overloaded vehicle.

Seated at the very edge of the ramp, the most coherent of the Marines grabbed Kelly's armored hand before she could pull away. "Thank you, ma'am!" he shouted above the noise of the Pelican engines and his own damaged hearing.

She didn't know why, but this gratitude from the wounded Marine touched something inside her. She'd saved countless soldiers and civilians in her time, but their thanks had never meant anything to her before. She suspected it was due to her awakening heritage, and it was a suspicion she was thankful for. It just felt _good_ to protect others, something she felt a momentary pang of regret over as she realized it was something that none of her fellow Spartan-IIs had ever had the opportunity to feel. She squeezed his hand gently, mindful of her superior strength, and answered, "You'd have done the same for me!"

Letting go of his hand, she stepped out and away from the transport as the pitch of its engines rose, and with a flurry of debris, lifted into the air and slowly angled skyward to return to the _Yamato_. As it was doing so, Kelly turned to the nearest of the resupply crates; her ancestor's sword was a great thing, but she'd spent the last thirty-five years with a gun in her hand, and that was a lot of training to even attempt to break out of.

"_Alpha-Six, be advised, large hostile force inbound to your location,"_ a tactical controller reported. _"We have confirmed sighting of six Phantoms and one hundred-plus foot-mobiles, with a squadron of Banshees."_

"_Where the hell are those tanks from the 506__th__!"_ Akio demanded.

"_They're pinned down by an enemy ambush and have taken heavy casualties,"_ the tactical controller replied.

"_Air support?"_ Alysia asked calmly.

"_Unavailable at this time."_

"_To hell with it."_ Given a clear threat, Alysia was now back in leader mode, her grief at the loss of her teammate and family momentarily pushed to the rear of her mind. _"We've got a clear line to the Academy and no cover out here. Better to fight in a building against enemies front and back than out in the open with no cover. Move out!"_

There was no argument, and the dozen and a half remaining troopers immediately broke to run for the academy building. It was eerily-silent, allowing the distant noise of the city at war to be heard. As she jogged at a sedate pace, not wishing to get too far ahead of her fellows, Kelly raised her head to the sky, filled with the smoke of burning vehicles and buildings, with white plumes of missile trails criss-crossing the entire visible sector of sky. The best pilots the world had ever seen soared through those skies, turning air dominance and close air support into a beautifully-choreographed dance of destruction.

But as busy as those pilots were in their sector of the battle, they were unable to turn their attention to the Academy, where Kelly's enhanced hearing could pick up the inimitable hum of Covenant Banshees. She slowed to a halt, turning backwards to where she could see a flight of the enemy fliers coming toward the school. Two of them altered course, rising relative to the horizon, and it took Kelly a moment to understand.

"Hotel One-Nine-Two, you have Banshees incoming on your tail," the Spartan warned over the battlenet, her heart leaping into her throat as she watched the purple-hulled fighters close on the Pelican.

"_Dammit, I need backup here!"_ the Pelican's pilot called out, not so much answering Kelly as putting out a general call for aid. _"I'm overloaded with personnel, my evasive options are limited!"_

"_Hotel One-Nine-Two, Crusader Three-One hot inbound your position,"_ the A-10 pilot answered, tension evident in his voice. _"Do what you can to stay alive."_

"_I'll do my best but…"_

Kelly watched as the bay-mounted heavy machine gun of the Pelican opened up on the Banshees, peppering the lead aircraft with 7.62 rounds. The two Banshees split to diffuse the fire coming in at them, with the already-damaged lead craft dropping back, the other moving forward to draw fire. With the gunner engaged with the second Banshee, the first moved in for the kill, the fuel rod launcher underneath glowing a sickly green before the radioactive explosive hurled itself outward, tracking the Pelican and detonating the left rear engine nacelle.

The Pelican immediately slewed to the right, the sudden impact nearly pitching the crew chief out of the vehicle, the man dangling precariously with his grip on the heavy machine gun the only thing keeping him from a fatal plummet. Smoke trailing from the destroyed engine, the Pelican spiraled through the sky as the pilot fought to regain control of it.

"_One-Nine-Two going down,"_ the pilot calmly reported, having abandoned keeping the vehicle flying and now intent on crashing as gently as possible. _"Hotel One-Nine-Two is going down hard."_

Cheryl stopped at the top of the academy stairs to look up at the spinning Pelican passing overhead, acrid black smoke pouring from its flank. Rapidly losing altitude, the vehicle skipped off the roof of the academy, the metal screeching as it smashed across the roof, taking out air conditioning units and building edge facades before tumbling into a central courtyard.

"_Pelican down, Pelican down,"_ the tactical controller from before announced across the entire net. _"We've got a bird down in the city."_

"Go, go!" Kelly shouted, waving the ODSTs into the building as the first of the Covenant ground forces began to enter the courtyard, streaming their way toward the academy. Overhead, the thrumming drives of the Phantoms filled the air as she turned to glare at the enemy transports. They hovered over various points of the large courtyard, deploying their infantry forces and not even bothering to fire their turrets at the lone Spartan standing opposed to them.

All the more fools they, then.

She raised her right hand, and the massive black sword shot from where it had been left, spinning through the air until the hilt smacked into her armored gauntlet. She twirled the weapon like the propeller of an aircraft with an ease that surprised her, then drove it into the ground and planted herself firmly in the path of the aliens.

Smirking behind her visor, she set her helmet comms to broadcast at its highest external volume and across all open local frequencies simultaneously, and issued her challenge: "To the UNSC, I am Spartan-087. To the Covenant, a demon. You who wish to harm my allies, know my name as Kelly Kagurazaka, descendant of the Imperial Princess of Twilight, Asuna Kagurazaka, known and feared as the Slayer of Worlds."

The aliens were still advancing confidently, but she could sense an unease in their front ranks. They, of course, would know nothing of the Imperial Princess of Twilight or Kelly's ancestry, but the fact that she was a Spartan, and the confidence in her posture and words needed no translation.

"I stand before you as gatekeeper, inheritor of all she left behind. I am Mage, and you who deem yourselves holy…" In a single fluid motion, she ripped the sword out of the ground and flipped it into a reverse-handed grip, the blade rising high above her form as she stood down the enemy.

"Look upon my power and despair."


End file.
